We Should Tell Them
by KorruptJustice
Summary: Jeff and Annie have been dating for awhile now and everyone from the group is oblivious...right?
1. Chapter 1: We Should Tell Them

**Summary:** Jeff and Annie have been dating for awhile now and everyone from the group is oblivious...right?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Community. If I did, I probably wouldn't be writing about it on the internet. Although I might anyway, just 'cause I think it would be funny.

**Author Note:** This is my first time writing with characters that are not my own, so I apologize in advance if anything comes across as OOC. This was originally meant to be a one-shot, but once I started writing I thought of a few other things to write, so I think this will eventually be three chapters, with maybe a prequel explaining how Jeff and Annie first got together. Eventually. Maybe. Also, this takes place after the events of season 2. I really wanted to get this posted before season 3 beings tomorrow night, so I can have at least a day where this plausibly might have happened (I haven't seen any spoilers on the upcoming season).

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><p>Jeff moaned into the mouth of the beautiful woman who was currently straddling him on the study room couch as she used her teeth to gently pull on his lower lip. "We really shouldn't be doing this." Annie smiled, feeling his moan on her lips more than hearing it, before letting out a long, low moan of her own when Jeff wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her closer, at the same time grinding against her. Despite his words of protest, he obviously had no intention of stopping. Annie decided to tease him just a little bit. Breaking off their kiss before either of them passed out due to lack of oxygen, she brought her lips close to his ear, whispering in the sultriest voice she could manage.<p>

"You really want me to stop?" She shifted lower and started to nibble on his neck, knowing exactly what it did to him.

She got the reaction she was hoping for when Jeff let out a sharp gasp. He ran his fingers up her side, lightly cupping her breast, causing another, even louder, moan. "Stop? God, no. I meant we really shouldn't be doing this _here_. Everyone just left like five minutes ago. Someone from the group could come back and catch us. I think we'd be better off…studying…at my place."

Annie felt her skin flush even more, to the point where she felt like she would burst into flame. "Well, you know how much I like to…study. Still, that is an awfully long way away. Are you sure it will be worth my while?" She flashed him her naughtiest smile.

Jeff couldn't help but grin as he looked up into Annie's eyes, usually so innocent looking, now clouded over with lust. The nearly four months that they had been dating had been amazing, but the last three weeks where Annie had shared his bed nearly every night had been quite possibly the greatest time of his, or anyone's, life. It wasn't even the sex, which was admittedly fantastic and only getting better as Annie grew more and more confident in the bedroom and in herself, but just laying there with his arms wrapped around her as they both slowly fell asleep was a feeling he had never really experienced before, or even really thought about. It scared him, but in a good way that left him feeling nervous and excited and he didn't know what else. He just knew he wanted to hold onto that feeling, and her, for as long as possible. Still, from the tone of her voice he could tell they wouldn't be falling asleep until much later tonight, after they had thoroughly exhausted each other. He was just about to lift her up and carry her to his car when suddenly, the study room door swung open and Abed rushed into the room.

"Forgot my mechanical pencil." Abed picked his pencil up off the table and turned back without sparing a glance at the stunned faces staring at him from the study room couch. He was already opening the door on his way out by the time Jeff and Annie had even started to react to his sudden intrusion.

"Abed, wait! It's not what it looks like!" Annie stopped him just before he left, grabbing his arm and pulling him back into the study room while at the same time trying to smooth her disheveled appearance, ignoring Jeff's muttered, "It isn't?" He had considered getting up to try and stop Abed himself, but in his current…condition, it seemed less embarrassing to remain seated.

"I'm pretty sure it is…," Abed said, fixing her with that look he had, as though she was some type of exhibit for study, before turning to stare at Jeff. "…oh wait, now I see. You think I still didn't know about the two of you yet." While Abed had been talking, Jeff had finally stood up from the couch and walked over behind Annie, placing his hand lightly on the small of her back. At Abed's words, however, he quickly pulled his hand away with a start, as if she was a still hot oven.

"What…what are you talking about?" Jeff realized just how ridiculous it sounded even as he was saying it, especially given what he and Annie had been doing when Abed walked in, but his first reaction when confronted with any truth he didn't want to admit was always to deny everything. Not that such a strategy had ever worked that well for him in the past. Hell, he and Annie probably would have started dating at least a year ago if he hadn't been so quick to deny to himself how he really felt about her. Abed tilted his head to the side, his eyes seeming to look straight through Jeff. Jeff held his gaze for only a couple of seconds, then sighed, placing his arm over Annie's shoulder. "How?"

"Honestly, I've been expecting this since the beginning. Remember when I predicted how you and Annie would make out shortly before the debate?"

"Yeah, you said that you're able to know how we'll react in certain situations because you know our personalities or something. But that whole incident was a onetime thing at the beginning of freshman year…well, actually more of a three or four-time thing stretched out over the period of a year, but that's not the point. We just started dating four months ago…plus you had Shirley getting chased by a werewolf."

"I threw that in because I knew I would have to convince Shirley that I couldn't predict the future. And I'm still holding out hope for this Halloween." His lips turned up into a quick smile before he continued. "But you're missing the point…do you know why I'm able to accurately predict your behavior? It's because I observe _everything_, and I remember it all. Since the beginning of the group the number of times that you glance at each other when you think no one else is looking has steadily increased, but since we've come back for this year it's risen nearly 300%. Also, you've become exceedingly careful not to touch, yet whenever you do come into contact with each other, the reaction is…pronounced, to say the least. There's also the way you arrive together. Frankly, I'm surprised none of the others have noticed it."

"We don't arrive together!" Annie said with a pout, and Jeff had to smile. After all, that had been her idea.

"Precisely. Jeff walks in exactly 12 seconds behind you every day so that you're never seen arriving together, despite the fact that you often walk together in the hallways when you think no one from the group is around. This has to be intentional, since random chance and the fact that you often come from the same class to here together would dictate that you would both arrive here at the exact same time at least occasionally. All of which points to a deliberate attempt to disguise your behavior, and that means that the two of you are hiding something. And you're equally as careful in allowing Annie to leave the study room before you, Jeff, although I haven't decided if that's more subterfuge or you simply like watching her butt as she leaves."

Annie gave a small gasp. "Jeff!" She slapped his arm, but couldn't conceal the small smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth and made her face glow, nor could she hide the slow blush that crept up her cheeks. Jeff rubbed his arm where she had slapped him, but held up his hand, cutting off Abed before he could speak again.

"Wait just a second!...I stared at her ass way before we ever started dating. That doesn't prove anything!"

"Jeff!" Her voice was a high pitched squeak now, but she made no attempt to hide her smile. Abed, though, ignored her second outburst.

"True, but back then it was kind of this confused leer, like you were attracted to her but didn't know how to react because you thought it was inappropriate…now it's a lot more affectionate. Softer, I guess. Warmer. It's pretty much how you look at her now when you think no one else is paying attention to the two of you. Just lower. By the way, you two are getting really good at looking at each other without making it look like you're looking at each other."

Annie slowly wrapped an arm around Jeff's waist, unsure of how to act with him with Abed right in front of them, but realizing that there wasn't any point in trying to hide anything from him anyway. "So, why haven't you told the group yet if you had all this figured out even before we did?"

Abed looked at her as though the thought had never crossed his mind, and remained silent for a minute. Finally, "A story is never very interesting if the characters are just told what's happening by the director. They need to either discover it for themselves, or be told about it by the people involved in a shocking confession scene. For purposes of the story, I'd go with the first one, even if it is a little cliché and played out, but for the sake of the group I hope you pick the second one and let everyone else know about this eventually."

Jeff looked down at Annie and sighed. "He's right. We do need to tell the group about this, and soon. If they accidentally found out about us, it could tear the group apart, and we had a hard enough time getting Pierce to rejoin after the end of last year." Abed shook his head.

"I don't think you have to worry about that Jeff. Maybe if this was a year ago, it might have torn us apart, but we've grown together as a group a lot over the course of the last year, even with Pierce's temporary setback. I'm not saying it would be a pleasant experience for any of us, but I do think the group would manage to hold together. Truthfully though, it's drama we don't need, and it's not really a risk I'd be willing to take at this point."

Annie looked at Abed. "If that's the case, why not use your observational powers and tell us how you think everyone would react if we told them about us; that way we know what we're getting into and how to best handle it."

"I really shouldn't Annie, for the same reason I haven't told them what you're up to. It wouldn't be right to interfere with the story…" Abed's train of thought stopped dead when Annie slowly opened her eyes wide and looked up at him, pleading, tears just beginning to form. "Disney eyes…no fair." He hesitated for a moment, and then turned to Jeff. "You've been teaching her to weaponize them." Jeff just shrugged.

"Believe me, I'm just as much a victim of them as you are, if not more so. How do you think she kept getting me to do stuff I didn't want to before we started sss…" Annie slapped him in the arm. "…taying up late at night talking?"

Abed cracked a tiny grin at that. "A successful last second word swap. Troy would be proud." He looked back at her; she was glaring at Jeff, almost scolding him with her eyes, but he could still see the smile trying to break out over her face despite her best efforts to be mad. When she noticed that Abed was looking at her again, though, she instantly switched back to Disney eyes, and also added a little lip quiver for good measure. He decided to relent before Jeff got mad at him for making her cry, even though they both knew it was an act.

"Fine. Pierce considers Annie his favorite, and he's going to be very protective of her. Jeff, he's gonna want to know that you're serious about this, and he'll threaten to destroy you if you break her heart. Take his threat seriously; not because it is, though I wouldn't doubt it, but because it will show him that you are serious about the relationship. Once he realizes that, he'll be supportive. Crude, but supportive. Also, he'll probably call you gay at some point."

Jeff held Annie's hand in hers and smiled down at her. "He doesn't need to worry about how serious I am. It took two years to get to this point and I don't plan on going anywhere." Jeff was surprised at just how true those words were. While he had realized his relationship with Annie was different from the moment it had begun, it was the first time he'd admitted to her (and if he was honest, to himself) just how committed he already was. The pre-Greendale Jeff Winger probably would have taken off running at this realization, but instead he just felt a strange surge of…contentment well up inside of him. Annie beamed back up at him, real tears in her eyes this time, and he knew that he saw many of the same thoughts in her bright blue eyes.

"Neither do I."

"Troy won't be a problem. There may be some initial feelings of jealousy, since he knows that Annie had a crush on him at one point, but he won't be too mad since he realizes that he never reciprocated those feelings. Plus, he'll realize that Jeff being in a stable relationship eliminates the possibility of him getting back together with Britta, who Troy is just starting to realize he has feelings for, though I don't think he fully realizes the extent of them yet. Speaking of Britta, she'll be the most outspoken about your relationship. She's going to think that Jeff is taking advantage of your youth and naivety, Annie. You're going to have to convince her that you're the one that pushed for this relationship to begin, which I'm assuming is true since Jeff taking the first step in this after the conflicted feelings he's been having towards you for over a year would be a major out of character moment for him at this point in his character development. You're first instinct is going to be to break out the Disney eyes on her, but you have to resist – they'll only remind her of how young and vulnerable you are in her mind. Save those for Shirley; she'll be more susceptible to them. With Britta you're going to have to be formidable and determined, and Jeff, you're going to have to shut up and resist making any sarcastic comments. Britta won't listen to anything you say; it's going to have to be on Annie to convince her."

"Okay, I can do that." Despite her obvious nervousness, Annie had a look on her face of steely resolve, and Jeff knew that Britta would be in for a surprise if she tried to push Annie on this topic. While Annie had certainly matured in the eyes of the study group over the past year, they still didn't always take her seriously, and he knew that would prove to be a big mistake. Annie's determination when fighting for something she really wanted was nigh unbreakable; the fact that she and Jeff had ever gotten together was all due to her pushing for what they both wanted, but only she was willing to admit.

"And finally, Shirley. She'll be happy for you two, although concerned about the age gap and the possibility that you're living in sin. She'll start dropping what she thinks are subtle hints about marriage almost immediately. The only problem you may have with her is if you fail to win Britta over. She may be able to convince Shirley of the idea that Jeff is taking advantage of you."

"What about you, Abed? You haven't really said what you think about all of this?" Annie asked.

"I got your back in this if things go bad and I'll do what I can. But most of this is going to come down on you guys. You're going to have to convince them yourselves. I should be able to get them to listen, but after that it's all on you."

"Thanks, Abed." Annie reached over and hugged him. "And thank you for not telling the group about this yet."

Jeff grinned at him. "Yeah, even if we don't totally believe your reasons for not telling them."

For the first time, Abed looked confused. "What do you mean? I hate spoilers, and this is a huge one. The group deserves to find out organically, in a manner that feels natural to the ongoing narrative. It makes sense for me not to tell them."

"Yeah, you do hate spoilers. But while you may not say anything, I know you love impressing the group with your awesome analytical powers even more."

Abed just shrugged. "I don't have any real proof. They wouldn't believe me anyway."

"Maybe not, but they'll remember you said it, and when the reveal happens, you get to sit there and remind them that you called it. So come on…why haven't you told them yet?" Jeff fully expected Abed to go on a long spiel about how having a secret relationship is good "character development" and the adversity they go through once it's revealed will be the set-up for their "season arc". But Abed managed to surprise him when he finally spoke.

"If you feel the need to keep it secret for now, I'm not going to ruin that. You're good for each other. Jeff, you've become less cynical and bitter. Annie, you're more relaxed, yet also more assertive when trying to get what you want. But most importantly, you guys are my friends, and you seem happy together."

"We are." Annie and Jeff said it at the same time, their faces breaking into warm smiles, before Annie reached up and kissed Jeff gently on the lips.

"Cool…cool cool cool." Abed started to leave, then turned back suddenly. "If you're gonna go back to what you were doing when I came into the room, do you think you could do it somewhere else? I sleep on that couch sometimes, you know." With that, he turned and left the room, heading back to his dorm where Troy was waiting for him to start their annual horror movie marathon, which would not end until the annual Greendale Halloween party began the next night. Jeff turned towards Annie. "Milady?"

"Milord." She took hold of his arm and they walked out of the study room together, Annie leaning against Jeff as they walked. They both felt remarkably free now that their secret was out there, even if it was only one other person who knew it. But those thoughts didn't linger long. Instead, she looked up at him and gave that mischievous smile that turned his legs to jelly and set his pulse racing all by itself.

"So…more "studying" at your place?"


	2. Chapter 2: Half a Night Alone

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Community. However, I did send Dan Harmon an email offering all the money I have in exchange for it, so I'm hopeful. I'd be even more hopeful if that amount was more than $20.

**Author Note:** Well I said I'd update eventually, but I didn't mean for it to be this long. The good news is that part 3 should be up quicker, since it was originally the second half of this chapter (before I decided it was already long enough) so the rough draft is already written. I want to thank everyone who reviewed and favorited the first chapter, as well as those who put it on alert.

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><p>Annie yawned and snuggled deeper into Jeff's side, trying to ignore the buzzing that was coming from his cell phone vibrating on the nearby table. The day had been too perfect to be ruined by interruptions. Granted her perfect day had consisted solely of waking up late in Jeff's bed, still feeling full from the Thanksgiving meal the entire study group had managed to share at Shirley's house the day before, peering through the frosted over bedroom window at the light snow that had begun to fall at some point while they slept, and curling up onto the couch with Jeff to spend the day watching movies, dozing off in the late afternoon. She never would have thought of a day with absolutely nothing accomplished as the perfect day, but the gentle smile on her face as Jeff tightened his arms around her in his sleep was enough that she wouldn't change anything. <em>Well, except for that<em>, she thought, as the phone, which had fallen silent once it had gone to voicemail, began to buzz again. It paused for a moment, then started once more. Annie sighed, unable to ignore it any longer. "Jeff." She nudged him gently. He mumbled something, still asleep, and tried to roll over. "Jeff." She said louder, and dug an elbow sharply into his side.

He sat up with a groan. "What?"

"Your phone keeps ringing."

"So?"

"It could be important."

He rolled his eyes at her, exaggerating his actions to make sure she realized he was teasing. "You're not going to let this go, are you?" Before she could respond, the phone began another round of buzzing. He reached for the phone and grabbed it off the table, looking at the screen. "It's Britta. Do you want to answer it?" She returned his eye roll, and he answered the phone, putting it on speaker phone so Annie could hear.

"Britta."

"Jeff, where have you been? I've been calling you all afternoon."

"I fell asleep on my couch. Why? What's so important that you have to keep calling me?"

"What's so – did you forget the presentation we have due for class Monday morning? The one we haven't even started yet? The one that you swore we would get done by today because I have plans for this weekend?"

"I'm almost positive I'd remember something like that." He flashed a daring smile at Annie, who shot him a stern glare of disapproval, no doubt already planning the lecture about the importance of homework, or keeping promises, or whatever lesson for being a better person she planned to give him that he would pretend to ignore, even though they both knew at least part of it would stick. At the same time though, she had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep a giggle from being heard over the speaker phone.

"Look, I don't care how long it takes, we are finishing this now. I'll be over there in an hour." Jeff and Annie shot a panicked look towards each other. They still hadn't told the study group about their relationship, and while they planned on doing it eventually, it probably wouldn't be the best way to break the news by having Britta find Annie at Jeff's place.

"Uh, can you make it two hours? I have something I need to finish up first."

"Fine. I'll be there at 8:00. But we are getting this done tonight. I don't care if it takes us all night, it's getting finished." She hung up.

"So, what do we do?"

"I dunno." Jeff shrugged. "I'd almost say stick around and pretend like we were just hanging out, but I think Britta is starting to get suspicious that something is going on between us, and if she sees you here and puts two and two together, it's not going to be pleasant. We could just come out and tell her, but then we run the risk that she spills it to the rest of the group before we get to tell them ourselves, which won't be good, and I'd rather deal with everyone all at once anyway. Plus I think she'd handle the news a lot better if everyone else was there when we tell her. Otherwise who knows how she'll react."

Annie thought about arguing, but knew he was right. They should have told everyone a long time ago, but it had gotten to the point now where it would be awkward to announce that they had been sneaking around for almost five months now. Instead, it was much easier for both of them to keep silent about it and hope no one found out, ignoring Abed's pointed stares at the two of them whenever they were gathered around the table in the study room. She sighed loudly. "You know, this is all your fault."

Jeff smirked at the pout on her face, and it took all of his willpower to prevent himself from tossing her over his shoulder and carrying her into the bedroom, not coming out again until Christmas, Britta and school projects be damned. _Well, there's time for that later_, he thought. "And how exactly is this my fault?"

"If you hadn't procrastinated all semester instead of working on this project, it would be done already and Britta wouldn't have to come over tonight."

"I wasn't procrastinating." Jeff said, and Annie scoffed. "I wasn't. I've just been extremely busy this semester." He pulled her close and kissed her lightly on the lips before continuing. "See, there's this amazing girl. She's absolutely gorgeous while still being adorable, she's smart and funny and every time I'm in the same room with her I just get…distracted, and forget about everything else. And it's really been eating into my free time. I mean, not that I'm complaining or anything, since just sitting next to this girl for five minutes is greater than anything that's ever happened at Greendale. So it really is kind of all your fault."

Annie beamed up at him. "You're really hoping all that flattery will help you avoid a lecture about paying more attention to your homework, aren't you?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny those accusations. Doesn't mean that what I said isn't true, though." Jeff grinned back at her.

"Fine. But only because you know everything I'm going to say anyway. Besides, we have less than two hours before Britta gets here and I can think of better ways to spend that time."

"Oh? What did you have in mind?" Annie still had her face buried in Jeff's chest, but she could practically feel him leering down at her. It sent delightful shivers racing up and down her spine. She blushed and ran her fingers gently over his chest, barely brushing against his shirt, thinking of all the things they could do with two hours to kill.

"Well, I was thinking…about picking up all my stuff around here so that Britta doesn't see anything suspicious, and then I was going to have you drive me back to my apartment." She looked up into Jeff's stunned face, before standing on her tiptoes to whisper seductively into his ear. "And as for the stuff you were thinking of, consider that good motivation for finishing up this project with Britta as soon as possible."

Jeff groaned in frustration. "Tease." Annie just smiled sweetly at him. He laughed, then headed to the closet, pulling out an empty cardboard box. "Here. Any stuff you got around you can just toss in here and I'll throw some old clothes over it back in the closet. That way you don't have to carry it back to your place unless you need to."

Soon everything that was Annie's was hidden away, and the apartment looked pretty much as it had before Annie had ever spent a night there (maybe a little cleaner). They walked down to Jeff's Lexus for the drive back to her place. The snow had finally stopped, but everything was still covered in an undisturbed blanket of white. Annie could have stayed out there and reveled in the absolute stillness forever, but it had become bitterly cold, and even the short walk to the car left her chilled to the bone and shivering, making her grateful for the heat blasting out of the dashboard into her face. As Jeff pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards her apartment, he turned to her and smiled. "Hey, worst case scenario, it's only one night, right?"

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><p><em>Yeah right<em>, Annie thought bitterly, flipping through the channels for the third time and still finding nothing to watch. She looked up at the clock. It was almost ten, meaning she'd been at her place now for almost three hours, and she was already losing her mind. The first hour hadn't been so bad – Jeff had gotten her there at seven, and since he still had an hour before Britta would show up, she had invited him in for a quick dinner of whatever she had laying around. To be honest it wasn't much, but eventually they had found a frozen chicken stir-fry shoved into the back of her freezer. They worked together to get everything ready in her tiny kitchen, which was cramped enough that the two of them were constantly brushing up against each other wherever they moved, not that Annie was complaining. In fact, it was probably the first time she'd ever been glad that her kitchen was so small. After they had finished eating, it was time for Jeff to get back to his place, so he had headed off with a hurried goodbye. Well, it was supposed to be a hurried goodbye. A quick kiss had ended with Annie shoving Jeff up against the door and making out with him long enough to leave them both breathless and ensure that he'd just barely make it back to his place before Britta.

After he'd left, Annie washed the dishes and settled down to review her class notes, but she couldn't really get comfortable. It was weird; she felt like a stranger in her own home. She guessed she shouldn't be so surprised at this development; after all, since she and Jeff had become something serious she had been spending less and less time at her place. Which was just as well, especially once her car broke down only a few weeks into the semester. She had mentioned it to the group and Jeff had "volunteered" to pick her up in the mornings, since their classes started within a reasonable time of each other every day, and the fact that Jeff could just drive them from his place every morning instead of having to drive all the way across town to pick her up made things easier. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen next semester if she hadn't saved up enough to get a new car by then. The chances of her and Jeff having nearly identical class times every day again were slim at best, and the rest of the study group would know something was going on if Jeff Winger was willing to show up at Greendale three hours before he had to just to drop Annie off.

Hopefully they would have told the group by then, but honestly…they should have told them by now. Annie didn't really want to think about it, though. While she and Jeff rarely fought, the subject of when to tell the study group had been a major issue for the two of them, especially after finding out that Abed already knew. Annie had been for telling the group immediately after that, but Jeff was still reluctant. While Annie had agreed with keeping it a secret in the beginning, she felt that the time had long come to let everyone else know; she was tired of having to pretend that they were nothing more than friends. Jeff though, was much more wary. The age difference that had once been a massive obstacle in his mind no longer bothered him personally, but he knew what their relationship looked like to other people. And more importantly, he knew what it would look like to the study group. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even Annie (although he knew that she knew), but the opinion of the study group…his friends…mattered to him. And despite Abed's analysis and reassurance, Jeff couldn't help but picture them reacting badly once they found out about him and Annie. After all, he was nearly old enough to be her father, and he had an admittedly well deserved reputation as a guy who was more interested in sex than he was in a relationship. He wouldn't blame his friends if they took one look at him going out with Annie and decided that he'd corrupted and been using her for his own pleasure, and was just waiting for a reason to dump her, no matter what Annie would say to persuade them otherwise.

Annie's mind jerked back to her apartment when she realized that she was flipping through the channels for the fifth time. _Well, I guess there's not really anything on. I could put in a DVD, but all of my good ones are over at Jeff's. _Thinking of the DVDs in the box made her think of everything else of hers that had migrated over to Jeff's since they began dating. _I can't believe how much stuff I had over there._ The one box that Jeff had found in the closet had not been big enough, so it ended up being two boxes and a few other things that had to be thrown on top after everything had been shoved into a back corner of the closet. Annie couldn't see Britta ever looking in there. _DVDs, books, a few changes of clothing, cell phone charger, shampoo and soap, a couple of towels _(she felt guilty about using all of Jeff's towels all the time)_, a hair brush, and…a toothbrush._

She sat bolt upright after that thought went through her head. _I didn't grab my toothbrush!_ Annie could feel the panic rising from the pit of her stomach, until it was pushing its way through her chest all the way up into her throat until it felt like she was choking and couldn't breathe. _Of all the things to forget…if Britta sees that, she'll know that someone is staying at Jeff's! And if Jeff's right and she's already suspicious of us, then it won't take her long to put two and two together!_ She forced herself to push the panic back down and draw a ragged, gasping breath, then a deeper one. She was being unreasonable. Going from seeing an extra toothbrush on the sink counter to Annie is sleeping every night at Jeff's apartment was a huge leap of logic, even for Britta. _It's just paranoia…right?_ Still, she picked up her cell and rapidly began texting.

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><p>Jeff rolled his neck around and stared up at the ceiling, trying to tune out Britta as she droned on and on about…something. He wondered if it was actually possible to die of boredom. The project was easy enough but time consuming, and Britta needed the grade badly enough to be unwilling to put up with any of the corner cutting and general "half-ass-edness" (her word) that went into any Jeff Winger assignment. Well, had gone into it. Since dating Annie, he found himself more willing to put effort into his school work, especially in the classes they shared. Still, if it meant getting to see Annie at some point tonight, he would have cut every corner he could and taken the failing grade.<p>

Just as he was brining his mind to focus on whatever it was that Britta was talking about, he felt his phone buzz in his jeans. He waited until Britta had her head down in her book before he slipped it out of his pocket and read the text message, keeping his phone below the table. When he saw it was from Annie, he had to fight to keep the smile off his face, just in case Britta looked up and noticed his change in expression and wondered what was going on. _Christ, I'm smiling just 'cause I got a text message from her? When did I become such a girl?_ Not that he really cared. He'd listen to Pierce make gay jokes about him for hours…no, days…if it meant he got to feel like he did whenever she texted or called him. That good feeling lasted until he read the message. **I forgot my toothbrush. It's still in the bathroom.** _Crap._

"Hey, Jeff! Hellooo?" Jeff jerked with a start when Britta snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Are you still here?" He gave a small nod, not trusting his vocal cords at this point. "Good. I asked how you wanted to start your section of the presentation?" Britta was looking at him curiously. He knew that she could tell something was wrong. He had to get a hold of himself, before she started asking questions he really didn't feel like answering.

"Uh…I gotta go to the bathroom. Be right back." _Not my smoothest exit ever_, he thought, using all his self-control to keep from sprinting towards the bathroom. He snapped on the light and practically slammed the door shut behind him. There, sitting in a plastic cup at the edge of the sink was Annie's purple toothbrush. Jeff grabbed it and opened the medicine cabinet door, then paused. The problem was Britta had already been in here, about half an hour ago. _Did she see it then? She didn't say anything when she came back out, but was she acting any different? Did she shoot me a funny look when she came out, or am I just imagining that now?_ He put the toothbrush on the shelf and closed the door. _Maybe she didn't notice._ He reopened the cabinet and pulled the toothbrush back out. _But what if she did notice and didn't think there was anything weird about it? If she comes back in here and notices it's gone now, she'll know that something's up. Won't she?_ Jeff wanted to scream in frustration. _I have to be over thinking this, right? It probably isn't even that big a deal. I'm freaking out over some inconsequential detail that isn't important to anyone but me and Annie. So why can't I decide how to handle this? Conceal or ignore? Shit…it'd almost be easier to just go out there and tell Britta all about dating Annie than torturing myself over a stupid toothbrush. Then again, we are all alone in this apartment and there are a lot of really sharp knives sitting right in my kitchen. _He shoved the toothbrush back into the cabinet. _Screw it. Hopefully she doesn't notice and start asking questions, cause I'd really like a roomful of people and a lot fewer sharp objects around when we tell her about us, just in case._

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><p>The next couple of hours passed a little more quickly for Jeff. After arriving back at the table and determining that Britta wasn't looking at him suspiciously, he had texted Annie back that he had taken care of the toothbrush, neglecting to mention the fact that it may have already been too late. <em>No sense in freaking her out until there's some way to tell if Britta knows anything.<em> She had answered his text a minute later, and he had written back almost immediately. Soon, Jeff was doing his best to carry out a covert text conversation while at the same time trying to contribute enough work to the project to keep Britta from noticing. At around midnight, Jeff noticed her texts coming less and less frequently, with his last text going unanswered for nearly fifteen minutes. **Sorry. I dozed off on the couch. Are you almost done?** Jeff looked at the amount of work he and Britta still had in front of them and wanted to groan; they were looking at at least another hour, probably more.

**Nother hr at least. Go to bed if u want.**

** Call me when you're done, in case I'm still up. I love you. :)**

** Luv u 2. **

Jeff put his phone back in his pocket and sighed, causing Britta to look up at him from her book. "Come on, you tired already? We're almost done; if you actually put some effort in we'll be done in no time."

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><p>Annie pulled the covers down and crawled into her bed, wearing one of Jeff's Denver Broncos t-shirts and her favorite pair of Greendale sweatpants as pajama bottoms. His shirt was absolutely huge on her, hanging almost all the way down to her knees. Nowhere near as good as having the real thing there with her, but still nice. She made sure that her phone was resting on her nightstand for when Jeff called, then started reading the book she kept there, trying to fight off the exhaustion coursing through her entire body. She knew she should go to sleep, but she really wanted to wait up for Jeff to call. It was something they shared since they had started sharing a bed; they always talked as they drifted off to sleep. Sometimes about nothing, sometimes just about how their days had been, and sometimes about things that neither of them would ever have talked about anywhere else or revealed to another soul. It had been in bed after a quiet night in watching TV, her head resting on his shoulder, almost asleep, that he told her "I love you", in a voice just above a whisper, to the point where if it wasn't for the warm glow spreading throughout her entire body she wouldn't have been sure he said it. It surprised her how completely open Jeff was during those times, just the two of them, hiding absolutely nothing from each other.<p>

Her body refused to cooperate with her desire to wait for Jeff, however, and she felt her head nodding more and more frequently as the night wore on before snapping back up through sheer force of will. Just before she went completely under, she took a final glance at her alarm clock. _1:57. I guess it took them a little…longer to finish…than he thought it would…_she finally gave in to sleep, not hearing the buzzing that came from her phone just a few minutes later.

Jeff tossed his phone onto the couch, looking up at the clock. _2:02. Well, I knew it was a long shot that she'd be up this late. Still, it'd have been nice to get to talk to her before she went to sleep. Stupid Britta. I can't believe this took as long as it did. _He thought about trying Annie again, but decided against it. _It's just one night. I'll call in the morning, and we'll go get breakfast_. He crawled into bed and waited to fall asleep. And waited. And waited. He couldn't understand it. Jeff had never been one of those people who could fall asleep instantly; instead, he usually found himself staring up at the ceiling, his thoughts lazily drifting from one thing to the next, uncontrolled by anything but his subconscious. Ever since Annie had started spending the night, he usually passed the time talking about whatever was running through his head. Still, sleep usually didn't take this long. _I wish I knew how Annie did it. She's usually out of it a minute after her head hits the pillow unless we're talking._ Thinking of Annie alone in her bed across town wasn't going to help him sleep. He rolled onto his side, staring at the alarm clock on his bedside table. 3:22. _I should ask Annie if she still has any recordings of Chang's Spanish lectures. Those always put me to sleep in minutes._ Still unable to get comfortable, he rolled to his other side, looking at the spot where Annie would normally be. For the first time he noticed that even with her gone, he remained on the left side of the bed, leaving her side empty.

_Huh. 'Her' side. When did that happen?_ Of course he thought of it like that while she was spending the night, but_…it's kind of cool to know that I still think of it as 'her' side even when she's not there._ He thought about rolling more towards the middle of the bed, but instead stayed where he was, staring at her pillow, trying to will sleep to come, unable not to notice how big and empty the bed suddenly felt with only one person sleeping in it, and how it had never felt that way before.

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><p>Annie awoke shivering, her bedside lamp still dimly illuminating her bedroom, her book fallen to the floor. She blinked, trying to clear her eyes, and finally got them focused long enough to make out the time on her alarm clock. <em>4:37. Ugh<em>. That's when she noticed that not only was she shivering, she could actually see her breath, steaming out of her mouth in little puffs. _What the hell?_ Annie almost never swore, but she figured waking up at 4:30 in the morning to a subzero apartment was a situation where profanity was entirely justified and appropriate. She stumbled out of bed, nearly tripping over the pair of slippers she had left sitting at the foot of her bed, and walked over to the radiator that ran all along the opposite wall. Stone cold to the touch. _Well this is great._ She pressed her head against the window, blocking the light to see outside. A vicious wind was whipping around the building, tossing snow drifts around and making it look like it was a blizzard out there. And judging by the feel of the glass, the temperature had continued to plummet. Muttering to herself, Annie slid on her slippers, then rummaged through her closet to pull out a large Greendale hoodie, sliding it over herself. She headed towards her apartment door, then turned back to her bedroom. _Screw it_, she thought, and yanked her blanket off the bed, wrapping it around herself as best she could before exiting her room and heading towards the landlord's apartment. The hallway was just as cold as her apartment, and she found a small crowd of tenants already gathered at the landlord's door. Her brain was still groggy, but she was eventually able to decipher that the landlord wasn't there, nor was he answering his phone. Annie groaned to herself, knowing that the heat wouldn't be back on anytime in the near future. She staggered back to her apartment and flopped down on the couch. _Now what?_ She thought for a minute, then went and grabbed her cell phone. He was probably asleep anyway, but it was worth a shot. **Are you awake?** She didn't really expect an answer, and was surprised when she got one almost instantly.

**yeah whats up?**

**The heat's out in my building.**

**be there in 10 minutes. **He's there in seven.

Jeff almost couldn't help laughing at her as he loaded the half asleep Annie into the front seat of the Lexus. She was still wearing the sweatpants and hoodie, but her feet were now encased in boots that came up almost to the knee, along with a pink scarf wrapped tightly around her neck and covering half her face, along with a matching set of earmuffs. He's pretty sure her gloves match too, but she still has the blanket wrapped so tightly around her that he's surprised she can even breathe, and her hands are buried deep inside for warmth. She looked ridiculous, but Jeff didn't say anything, because she also looked warm, or at the very least warmer than he was. It'd only been about five minutes since Jeff had left the heat and comfort of his car, but he's convinced that he will never be warm again.

The ride back to his building was uneventful, with the only trouble arising from trying to wake Annie up enough to get her out of the car and actually up to the apartment. Jeff finally managed to stumble through the door, most of Annie's weight supported against his shoulder. He plopped her down on the couch and began pulling her winter gear off, even managing to finally get the blanket away from her and removing her hoodie.

"Hey, I was looking for that shirt." He smirked, hoping to get a reaction out of her, but instead getting nothing but a tired grunt. He sighed. "Okay, fine, let's get you to bed." He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, gently placing her down on her side of the bed.

Her eyes just barely opened. "Thank you, Jeff."

He looked down at her and smiled. "Oh, all the work is done, so you're awake now?" She grinned sheepishly.

"Little bit."

"Think you can stay awake for another minute? It's something important."

"…Okay." Jeff left her on the bed, but was back before she even realized it.

"I have something for you. Hold out your hand." Annie looked at him curiously, but did as he asked. He took her hand in his, and she felt something small and metallic pressed into her palm. Annie opened her hand, and looked down at the small key that rested in her hand. She looked up into Jeff's eyes.

"I was going to give you this as a Christmas present, but after spending half a night without you here with me I can't think of a single reason to wait another second before giving this to you, let alone an entire month…Also you're Jewish. Which doesn't matter, but I just wasn't sure how we'd be celebrating this year…and I'm rambling. What I'm trying to say is, you already know where the spare key is kept and you let yourself in whenever you want anyway, but I want more than that. I want you to have your own key. You spend every night here anyway…but I don't want you to just be sleeping here; I want you to be here, all the time. Annie, do you want to move in with me?"

She didn't say anything. Instead, she flung her arms around his neck and pulled him into what he could only describe as the most mind-blowing kiss he had ever received in his life, slowly pulling him down on top of her as she laid back onto the bed.

When the kiss finally broke, Jeff smiled down at her. "Can I just assume that was a yes?" She beamed up at him and nodded. Looking into her eyes, he's convinced that the entire world could end right then and there and he wouldn't even notice or care as long as she was there with him. Suddenly neither of them were feeling very tired, and in fact the sun is starting to peek over the horizon before they finally do fall asleep, and its past noon before they wake up, in _their _bed, their arms still wrapped around each other.

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><p><strong>Please review. All reviews are appreciated.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3: An Unexpected Visitor

**Disclaimer:** I _do_ own Community...Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. That's all.

**Author Note:** I want to thank everyone who reviewed and favorited the story so far, as well as those who put it on alert. It's already gotten more response than I ever expected it to, and I'm eager to see what people think about this chapter.

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><p>When Jeff and Annie finally did get out of bed that morning, the rest of the day was spent at Annie's place, packing all of her things into boxes for the move. Fortunately Annie only had a month to month lease, and since it was almost the end of the month, neither she nor Jeff could think of any reason not to have her move out as soon as possible. While they packed, Jeff placed a call to Abed, asking if he would be able to borrow his father's van on Sunday. Jeff had been hoping that Abed would agree, no questions asked, but something must have tipped him off. Jeff didn't know if it was something he said, how his voice sounded, or maybe Abed just had a sixth sense about these things, but once he knew something was up, he was like a shark that smelled blood in the water. Jeff all of a sudden had a lot of sympathy for the witnesses that he had cross-examined back when he was still a lawyer; Abed had picked his flimsy cover story apart in no time at all. Annie had finally given up and grabbed the phone from Jeff's hand with an exasperated sigh.<p>

"Abed, I just have some boxes that I need to bring to Jeff's apartment and it would be easier to use a van instead of making multiple trips in Jeff's car."

"You couldn't fit everything in the car in one trip? Just how much of your stuff are you bringing over to Jeff's apartment?"

"Uh…all of it?" Annie wasn't sure why she and Jeff were trying so hard to keep Abed in the dark about moving in together, especially since he already knew about their relationship, but it really did feel like something they didn't want anyone else to know about until it was already done. Still, it was obvious that Abed wasn't going to let them have the van until he had answers.

"You're moving in together?" Annie waited when Abed paused, and she was suddenly worried. How was he going to react? He had no problems with them dating, but did he think they were going too fast? Did he think they should tell the group first? Abed put her at ease almost immediately. "Strange…I wasn't expecting something like this for another month or so. Some unexpected catalyst must have occurred to accelerate the relationship. Okay, my dad won't let me just lend the van to a friend, but he won't mind if I take it, so I'll help you guys with the move. I'll pick you guys up at Jeff's in the morning, and then we can drive over to Annie's and start loading everything up."

"Thank you Abed." Annie said, and handed the phone back to Jeff.

"Yeah, thanks."

"Cool…cool cool cool."

After the conversation with Abed, there was a renewed determination to get all of Annie's stuff packed up, and other than a brief break to inhale some Chinese takeout for dinner, the two of them worked nonstop to make sure that everything would be ready by the next day. It seemed to take forever, but it was only a little after one in the morning by the time they finished. All of the stuff Annie was taking with her was stacked neatly in the middle of what had been her living room. It was weird to see her entire life reduced to a pile of cardboard boxes, and a strange feeling of melancholy enveloped her, if only for a moment. She looked at Jeff, and the feeling vanished, replaced with a warm glow that she could feel radiating out from deep inside her. _The boxes aren't about the past, but the future. Soon, everything I own, all of my stuff, all of me, will be in his…no, in our apartment. It's something brand new…for both of us. I hope we're ready for this._

Jeff came over behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back into him. "What're you thinking of?" When she looked up at him to answer, he planted a kiss delicately on her forehead.

"Oh, just hoping that we don't screw this up." She stared up into his eyes, looking for reassurance.

"Are you kidding? Of course we'll screw this up. More times than we can count." _Not really the answer I was hoping for_. Before she could lower her head though, Jeff gave her another kiss, this time on the lips. "You know what though? It doesn't matter how many times we fuck it up, 'cause we'll fix it. Together. Deal?" That was more like what she was looking for, and she smiled up at him.

"Deal. Are you ready to go?"

"If you are. We should grab a couple of boxes now; less to worry about tomorrow." They carried a few of the boxes down to Jeff's car and headed for home. Jeff noticed as he drove that Annie had a grin that stretched from ear to ear the entire ride, and although he didn't realize it, when Annie looked over at him, the same exact grin was plastered all over his face.

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><p>It was almost ten the next morning when Jeff's phone rang with an incoming text. The pounding water from the shower, though, kept Jeff from hearing anything. And honestly, even if he had, he wouldn't have had any interest in answering it, seeing as a very naked and very wet Annie was currently pressed against him and occupying all of his attention. "This was a bad idea." Annie said, even as she wrapped her hands around Jeff's neck to pull his lips up against hers. When their lips finally broke apart, Jeff only smiled down at her.<p>

"You didn't seem to think so when I suggested it." He bent down, lightly nipping at the skin just above her collarbone. She moaned, her entire skin flushing a bright pink.

"Well, that's because when you suggested it, you said it was only because we were already running late, and it would be quicker to shower together than it would be to each take a separate one."

"Wow, and you fell for that? I thought you were supposed to be the smart one in our group, Annie." He teased, and she playfully slapped his chest.

"Well, your logic seemed sound at the time. And maybe I'm just extremely gullible for any idea that involves the two of us getting naked in a very small space." She kissed him again, hard, then reluctantly pulled away. "But seriously, Abed will be here any minute, and we should at least be dressed enough to let him in so he doesn't have to wait in the hallway."

Jeff reached behind her and shut off the water. "Fine. But only because the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can spend the next two days not leaving our bed." He slid open the shower door and reached out to grab a towel, rubbing it all over her body, drying her off. Annie didn't fail to notice that certain parts of her were dried off first and more thoroughly than others.

"Hmmm. I like the sound of that."

"What? Two days of nonstop sex? I'm glad you approve." Jeff grinned wickedly.

"No. _Our _bed. Although I guess that sex thing sounds fine too."

Jeff chuckled. "You know, it's really not fair that you can make me amused and horny at the same time. That, plus the doe eyes, plus you're formidable face…I'm gonna end up completely whipped, aren't I?"

"What makes you think you aren't already?" Annie smiled and batted her eyelashes at him, and Jeff felt his heart start racing. He realized she was absolutely right, but he couldn't bring himself to care. After all, she had him wrapped around her finger way before they had started dating. He remembered telling her that he would be willing to break a light sweat for her, trying to make it seem like it wasn't that big a deal. But it was. At the time, he wasn't even willing to break a light sweat to help himself; if he had, he would never have ended up at Greendale in the first place. But he wanted to make Annie happy, to make her smile at him. He still did, even more than before.

"Now, we need to get out of here and get dressed. Abed will be here any minute." She leaned up and kissed him a final time, then turned and left the bathroom. "And hurry up! Remember, the sooner we're done, the sooner we get to the endless sex."

"You are so sexy when you're bossy, you know that?" Jeff called out to her.

"Please, you think I'm sexy no matter what I'm doing. You've told me so."

"Yeah, but only cause it's true." Annie left the bedroom, now dressed, with her still damp hair plastered down to her head. _I really should have made sure to grab the box that I put the hair dryer in last night. Or that I had just left it in his closet instead of bringing it home with me in the first place._ She couldn't believe how long ago that seemed, when it had only been a couple days ago. _So much has changed since then._ She was distracted from her thoughts by the ringing of Jeff's cell phone. She picked it up. "You got a text from Abed." She read his message, and frowned. Jeff came out to the living room and saw her expression.

"What's it say?" She shrugged, as though she couldn't make sense of it, but read the message to Jeff.

"In elevator. Is it clear? Can't stall any longer. Respond now." She tossed the phone over to Jeff, now sitting on the couch, who looked at the message and gave a shrug of his own.

"That sounds weird even for Abed…hold on, there's a missed message from him sent earlier this morning." Jeff clicked to the previous message and bolted up off the couch. He turned quickly towards Annie, all the color drained from his face. "Get your stuff. We need to get you out of here. Now!"

"Jeff, what is it? What'd he say?"

"He said he's not alone!" He handed the phone to her and she looked at Abed's previous message.

**on the way. britta w/me. cant get rid of her. get annie out of there!**

Annie felt a surge of fear twist her stomach into a knot. If Britta saw her in Jeff's apartment at 10:00 on a Sunday morning, her hair still wet from the shower…_there's no way even Jeff could talk us out of this one_. She ran around the room, gathering up her shoes and coat and trying to get ready to leave. Jeff went to the apartment door and opened it, listening. He heard the elevator chime at the end of the hall. Closing the door, he turned back towards Annie.

"They're already here. You're not gonna get out in time."

"Okay, so what do we do?" Annie didn't like the high pitch her voice had, but she had more pressing concerns at the moment. She knew it already didn't have much chance of ending well when they planned on telling Britta about them. Her walking in on it, no explanation or advanced warning? Catastrophic.

"Grab your stuff and get to the bedroom. I'll try to get her out of here as soon as I can."

"What about the boxes?"

"I'll think of something; just go. And just in case she does figure it out and kills me, I love you." He gave her a quick kiss and pushed her towards the bedroom. "If she does kill me, avenge my death!" It was forced levity, but he wanted to show Annie that there was nothing to worry about. He winked, and was rewarded when he heard her giggle right as the bedroom door clicked shut. Almost as soon as she was out of sight a loud knock came from the entrance. He considered not even answering it, but knew that Abed and Britta would have had to walk right by where his Lexus was parked on their way into the building, so pretending that he wasn't home wasn't really an option. And besides, Britta knew how to pick locks, and while he hoped Abed would try to stop her if it came to that, he didn't know if his friend would be able to outside of physical restraint.

He opened the door and looked at his two friends. "Hey Abed. Britta, what a surprise." Jeff nearly cringed at the sound of his voice. _When did I start to suck so much at lying?_ He stepped back from the door, allowing Abed and Britta to enter his apartment, hoping she didn't pick up on the tone of his voice. Fortunately, she seemed too intent on ragging on him to realize how weird he sounded.

"I can't believe you made Abed bring the DVDs you wanted to borrow all the way over here instead of picking them up yourself." Jeff shot a quick glance at Abed, who held up a stack of DVDs and gave Jeff a brief nod.

"Actually, Britta, Jeff and I were gonna hang out and watch them together, but I had something come up and I figured I should at least bring them over in case he wanted to watch them by himself." Abed checked to make sure Britta wasn't looking before shooting a look at Jeff. Jeff wasn't certain, but he was pretty sure Abed was trying to ask if Annie had managed to get out before they got there. Jeff gave him a tiny shake of his head, and then rolled his eyes towards the bedroom door, hoping Abed would figure out what he was trying to communicate. Abed gave an almost imperceptible nod, signaling that he understood.

"So what are you doing, anyway? I seem to remember you saying that you had plans for all weekend." Jeff turned back to Britta, who just shrugged at him.

"Eh, the plans kinda fell apart. I dropped by Troy and Abed's to see if they wanted to hang out, but Troy had some family thing and Abed said he was heading over here, so I figured I would tag along to kill time." As she spoke, she noticed the boxes piled up in the corner. "What's up with those?"

"Oh, it's some stuff from my old condo that I just brought out of storage."

"Really? Why now?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm starting to realize that this place is going to be my home, at least for a couple more years, and I might as well get used to it and unpack." She nodded and flopped down on the couch. Jeff allowed himself a tiny smile and breathed a sigh of relief. _I can't believe she bought that. We might actually get out of this…_

"Is that Annie's backpack?" Britta pointed to the bag that was leaning against the far side of the couch. Jeff's mind froze. _How did we miss that?_ Although on second thought, it was pretty easy to see how both he and Annie had overlooked it. It was tucked away against the couch, out of sight from the rest of the apartment. In fact, the only way you'd be able to notice it was if you sat on that end of the couch and then looked over the arm of the couch. _So of course that's exactly what she did_. He noticed that she was still looking at him, the backpack now pulled out in front of her, waiting for him to answer. He tried to pull himself together. _I can talk my way out of this. I used to be a lawyer, damnit. I can talk my way out of anything_, trying to ignore the fact that even on his best days, Britta could see through his bullshit with ease.

"What? Uh, yeah, I guess it is. She must have left it over here last night." He leaned in conspiratorially, as though he had something to share that he didn't want anyone else to know. "Look, don't tell the rest of the group, 'cause I'm a little embarrassed about this, but I've been having a little more trouble this year than usual, so she's been tutoring me." _Not great, but not bad for a moment's notice. Hell, I might still be able to get out of this._ But Abed was shaking his head, and he noticed that the suspicion never left Britta's eyes. _Crap._

"Come on, Jeff, this is Annie we're talking about." She said, laughing. The laugh sounded forced, like she was trying to keep the mood between them light. _An interview, instead of an interrogation_, Jeff realized. _She hasn't put it all together yet. But she's about to, and she wants to keep pumping me for information in the meantime._

"What do you mean by that?" He hoped that turning the questions on her would distract her, buy him more time.

"Well, you know what I mean. She freaked out when she couldn't find her pen. There's absolutely no way she'd forget her backpack. Which means…" Jeff could almost see another puzzle piece lock into place. "…that she's here right now." She shot at a death glare at Jeff, cutting off any protest from him before it even reached his lips. Instead, she scanned the apartment, her eyes settling on the closed bedroom door. "Annie…" Everyone in the apartment stared at the door. Nothing. "Annie, I know you're in here. You can come out now." Another long pause and the door slowly swung open. Annie walked out, a big smile on her face, although Jeff noticed that it didn't reach her eyes, which were darting around frantically.

"Oh hey, Britta, I didn't hear you come in!" Annie's voice was too happy, making it obvious to everyone that she was hiding something. Jeff decided to take some solace in the fact that the only person in the room who didn't already know what she was hiding was already suspicious, so it wasn't like Annie was giving anything away anyway.

"Uh, Annie, what are you doing in Jeff's apartment, in Jeff's bedroom in fact, this early on a Sunday morning?" Britta's eyes narrowed and Jeff could practically hear the click of the next piece of the puzzle locking in.

Annie blushed at the implications in Britta's question, but seemed to steady herself quickly. Her smile came back to a more realistic level; she shrugged innocently. "Jeff and Abed invited me over to watch movies with them today." Her voice was steady, and she kept her eyes locked with Britta's, the very picture of a girl with nothing to hide. Jeff was impressed. He had seen devious Annie before, but it was a rare event. Even knowing the truth, he was almost willing to believe her.

"Bullshit. Abed didn't mention you when he told me about watching movies, Jeff tried to pretend that you weren't here, and you were hiding in the bedroom." Jeff could almost feel his heart stop. _Any second now, all those little clues are going to come together, and she'll know. This will not end well._ Jeff looked over at Abed. He still had his typical passive expression, but Jeff noticed that his eyes were opened wide and constantly flicking back and forth between Annie and Britta. He knew what was coming as well as Jeff did, but like Jeff, there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Britta looked at Annie more closely, almost studying her. "And why do you look like you just got out of the shower?" _Click._ Jeff instinctively began sliding as far from Britta as he could, but she had already whirled towards him, eyes burning with anger. _Uh oh._

"You slept with her! I can't believe it!" Jeff raised his hands in a defensive gesture, eyes wide with panic.

"What are you talking abou…"

"Oh, don't even try to deny it! What is wrong with you? She's 20 years old, and you're taking advantage of her! You're practically old enough to be her father!"

"Listen, it's not like that." Jeff tried to explain, desperate. He didn't get the chance, though, as all of a sudden Britta's hand shot out and slapped Jeff in the face. Hard. The loud crack rang throughout the apartment, echoing around the room. Jeff rocked back, a hand flying up to his right cheek, which was already turning red. He stared at Britta in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Britta's hand dropped limply to her side, her face frozen in disbelief, just as much as Jeff's.

"Jeff…I'm…that was out of line, I'm sor…" She didn't get to finish her apology. Annie strode across the room and delivered a slap of her own that made Britta's seem like a gentle caress in comparison.

"Don't you dare try to act like Jeff is some monster taking advantage of a helpless child!" Annie's eyes blazed with a fury that Jeff had never seen before. Britta was obviously stunned at the turn events had taken, and could only stare blankly. Annie's hand rose again, but Jeff saw it quickly enough to step in and gently grab her wrist, holding the hand back from delivering another devastating blow. At his touch, Annie looked up at her hand in surprise, like she didn't even realize what she was doing, then guiltily lowered her arm back to her side. The momentary distraction was enough for Britta to relaunch her (now strictly verbal) assault.

"You're sleeping with him? Annie, he's like…fifteen years older than you! He's almost old enough to be your dad!"

"We are not sleeping together! Well, I mean, we are, but….well, we're not just sleeping together, okay? It's more than that." She sighed. "Look, we didn't want you to find out this way, alright? We were going to tell you and the rest of the group…eventually…but we've been dating for…awhile now, and it's serious. We're serious."

"Annie, please, just 'cause you occasionally watch a movie together before you end up doing it, or he orders Chinese take-out in between rounds in the sack doesn't mean you're dating!"

"Not that it's any of your business, but we were going out for three months before we ever slept together. And we go out to dinner all the time! Usually in restaurants three towns away just so we don't have to worry about running into you or someone else from the group."

"Well, congratulations for making him work for it a whole three months before you gave it up to him. It doesn't change the fact that it's what he was after from the beginning!"

Jeff slowly backed away from the two screaming women. He'd never seen Britta this mad before, and the only time he'd seen Annie anywhere near this angry ended with him getting punched in the face, and he's pretty sure that was only a mild dislike compared to what Annie is feeling right now.

"Abed, how's this play out?" Jeff whispered to his friend, who was staring at the scene before him, his face blank, but his eyes open wide, absorbing every detail. Anyone who didn't know him wouldn't have noticed, but Jeff is convinced that this is the most surprised he's ever seen Abed in all the time he's known him.

"I…I don't know."

"How do you not know? You're Abed; this is your thing!"

"Jeff, the predictions I make regarding human behavior are based upon knowing the genre I'm operating in. Typically, our group has always been as something like a wacky sitcom, and if that's still the case then we'll be fine, since dramatic moments never last long and any fluctuations that fracture the group dynamic are resolved within an episode or two. But this..." he gestured to the argument raging in front of them. "…this feels more soap opera than sitcom. Frankly, your evil twin could show up and both Annie and Britta could announce that they're pregnant with your child and I wouldn't be surprised. If the rules have changed, anything goes at this point."

Jeff looked at Abed in terror. He was pretty sure he was kidding about that last part, but he still found himself frantically trying to remember when the last time that he had had sex with Britta. _Seven months ago, right? So she'd definitely be showing by now… I'm safe there anyway…I think. But what if it's Annie instead?_ He paused, waiting for the same feeling of horror to wash over him that had when he thought of Britta being pregnant, but it was…strangely absent. _Huh_. Before Jeff could fully process that last thought though, his attention was dragged back to the two women arguing in front of him. Apparently Britta had decided to replay the age card while Jeff had been distracted. He could have told her from personal experience that it was a mistake.

"I realize I'm not as old as you, Britta, but you have no right to treat me like I'm some child. I wanted this relationship as much as Jeff did; probably more. I'm not the naïve idiot you seem to think I am. I pushed for this, and it was my choice to get involved with him. He didn't trick me or seduce me or whatever you seem to think he did. Besides, you can't accuse me of being immature when I'm the more adult behaving one in this relationship!" Jeff thought about raising a protest to this last point, but just shrugged instead. You couldn't argue against the truth. Well, you could. In fact, he'd actually made a really good living doing just that. But now really wasn't the time, he decided.

Britta had no problem responding to that point. "Exactly! The guy you're sleeping with has the emotional maturity of a 12 year old, and you expect me to believe that he even has the capability of taking you and this "relationship" seriously? Annie, you should know better than that!"

Jeff had heard enough. He knew that Abed had said that it would have to be up to Annie to convince Britta, but even he had said that the rules had changed, and Jeff was too far past his breaking point to remain silent.

"Alright, that's enough! First of all, I'd like to think that the last year has raised my maturity level to at least that of a 15 year old." He gave Britta a charming smile, as if to reassure her, before allowing it to vanish from his face completely as though it had never been there. His eyes grew cold and hard as he stared her down, and when he spoke again, it was just above a whisper, like he was making every effort to remain in control. "And second, you can insult me all you want, but _you do not_ get to question the level of my commitment towards Annie, nor the seriousness of my feelings for her. Because if you insist on continuing to question my dedication to the woman I love, and make no mistake, I am very much in love with her…" He paused when he saw Annie beaming at him, and now raised his voice, allowing some of the rage he had buried to spill into his words. "…then you can get the hell out of our apartment."

"…You're living together?"

"Yes, we are." Annie said. "Or at least we will be once the rest of my stuff is moved in. That's actually why Abed came over today. We're using his van to pick up the rest of my things to bring them back here." Annie nodded towards the boxes that Britta now realized belonged to her. Jeff noticed the hint of smugness that crept in Annie's voice when she spoke. "What does that do to your theory that it's just about sex?" Annie would ordinarily never take such pleasure in proving Britta wrong, but she was still seething from the way Britta had reacted, and if she was being honest with herself, she was more than a little hurt that Britta had such a low opinion of both her and Jeff.

Britta didn't seem to take the news well. Her mouth hung open in shock, then snapped shut hard enough that Jeff could hear her teeth click together. But she wasn't defeated yet.

"What do you think the rest of the study group is going to think when I tell them about this?"

Jeff had been waiting for her to bring them up, but it still made him nervous. He truthfully didn't know how the rest of the group would react to this news, especially if they heard it from Britta instead of him and Annie. It wasn't their reaction to the relationship that scared him (well, Shirley's possible reaction did), but the fact that they had been hiding the relationship from them since mid-summer could be devastating to the rest of the group. They had a history of trust issues that they had managed to work through, but Jeff and Annie basically lying to them since mid-summer (a lie of omission, but still a lie) could undo everything from their previous two years together.

"I would hope that you'd be willing to wait until we're ready to tell them ourselves before saying anything, but honestly, I don't really care if you tell them at this point. It's not going to change anything except for the fact that we could stop going three towns over every time we went out on a date out of fear of being caught. And it would be nice to kiss Jeff in public at Greendale instead of dragging him into a janitor's closet whenever we get the chance."

Jeff leaned over so he could whisper in Annie's ear. "Uh, I don't think everything we do in those closets would be safe to do in public, no matter how many people knew about our relationship." His hot breath tickled her ear, sending shivers down her spine, and she blushed at the memories Jeff stirred up. Britta just looked at the two of them in disgust.

Annie shook her head, clearing the pleasant images from her mind, then turned her attention back to Britta. "The point is that Abed already knows, Pierce and Troy aren't going to care, and while Shirley may be mad initially, I think she'll come around when she realizes that this is something both of us want, and that we're happy together. And honestly, I don't think I would care if every single one of the group disapproved of us. It wouldn't change anything that I feel for Jeff."

"And it wouldn't change anything for me, either." Jeff said, wrapping an arm around Annie's shoulder and pulling her close.

Britta rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration, but whether it was due to her last argument coming up empty or the display of affection between the two was impossible to say. Instead, she grabbed her jacket and stormed towards the door. "I don't care what you say. This is wrong, and you can't expect me to keep quiet about it, and I'm sure as hell not going to stay here and be forced to watch you two be all…" she waved her arms in exasperation. "…whatever the hell you are!" She slammed the door of the apartment behind her.

Jeff looked around the suddenly quiet apartment. Annie looked devastated and near tears, but Abed, while his face retained its usual neutral and unreadable expression, had one finger raised into the air, a gesture that somehow seemed surprisingly hopeful. Upon seeing Jeff's questioning gaze, Abed gave a small shrug, then turned to look at the door. "Wait for it…"

They didn't have to wait long. A knock came, and while Jeff fought down a momentary surge of panic (_it is physically impossible that Britta could have called Shirley and had her drive all the way across town in less than a minute!)_, Abed eagerly went and opened the door. Britta was standing there, her shoulders slumped, staring down at her shoes.

"He's my ride." She jerked her head in Abed's direction. "And I'm damn sure not paying $30 for a taxi back to where I left my car, so hurry the fuck up and get this over with so I can get the hell out of here." Still without looking at Jeff or Annie, she turned and walked back into the hall.

Abed allowed himself a tiny smile. "Classic sitcom…everything's gonna be fine." Jeff merely shook his head. He really wished he could share Abed's optimism, but the fact that Britta refused to say another word to either Jeff or Annie in the three trips back and forth from Annie's old apartment was not encouraging. And the death glare they received any time they tried talking to her didn't particularly bode well either. When the last of Annie's stuff was finally brought up from the van to her new home, Britta left, still without saying a word to either of them. Abed watched her leave, then turned back towards the two of them and gave an apologetic shrug before following her out the door.

Jeff collapsed down onto the couch, ignoring the boxes stacked all over the apartment. Annie sat down beside him, and he pulled her into him until she was snuggled up against him, her head resting on his shoulder. They didn't say a word. They just sat together, Jeff's arm wrapped around her, waiting for the inevitable fallout and wondering just how bad things were going to get.

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><p>Unfortunately, Chapter 4 may not be for some time, since I've run into a serious case of writer's block. I know where I'm going, but I have no idea how to get there right now. Hopefully that won't last wrong, and I will finish it eventually.<p>

**Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Serenity and Shirley's Offer

**Disclaimer: I don't own Community or any of the other TV shows or movies that are mentioned in this story. As for TV shows or movies that I don't mention in this story…I don't own any of them either.**

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><p>"<em>It ain't all buttons and charts, little albatross. Know what the first rule of flying is? Well, I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say."<em>

_"I do. But I like to hear you say it."_

_"Love. You can learn all the math in the Verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as a turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' before she keels. Makes her a home." _

_"Storm's getting worse."_

_"We'll pass through it soon enough…What was that?"_

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><p>Jeff rolled his neck and stretched his arms as the credits to <em>Serenity <em>began to scroll up the screen and the study group's epic _Firefly _marathon finally drew to a close, feeling every joint in his upper body pop and crack in protest. He groaned, trying to ease the stiffness in his limbs without disturbing Annie, who was asleep sprawled across Abed's couch, her head nestled against his side. Jeff couldn't remember exactly when she had fallen asleep, but he did remember that when the first episode had begun she had been way on the other end of the couch, far enough away to avoid drawing any unwanted attention upon the secret couple. He wasn't sure exactly when they had begun creeping closer, but they were definitely sitting closer together by the time Abed ordered the first mandatory 10 minute break after the third episode, and by the time _Serenity _had started they were right next to each other.

Finally working the kinks out of his neck, he considered waking her so he could stand and stretch his legs, but she looked so peaceful as she slept against him that he decided a few more minutes wouldn't hurt. Instead, he glanced at his watch. _Almost 3:00 AM. No wonder she's asleep._

He looked around Troy and Abed's apartment at the rest of the group, most of who had also succumbed to sleep at some point during the _Firefly _marathon Abed had insisted on to celebrate the end of finals that morning. Jeff had protested, but had shown up anyway. Truthfully, he liked the show (more than he would ever admit to anyone other than Annie), but he saw no reason to watch the entire series and movie in one sitting. Still, he wasn't going to complain about any idea that ended with Annie curled up against him, even if there were too many people nearby to really take advantage of or fully enjoy the situation. Instead, he absentmindedly wrapped his arm tighter around her shoulder, pulling her even closer. She stirred slightly, snuggling against Jeff's chest, but didn't wake. Jeff sighed. Sure it was cute, but it was late and he really wanted to go home.

Before he could shake her awake though, a powerful feeling of being watched overcame him. He glanced around the room again. The only other person awake was Abed, who was standing with his back to Jeff in front of the DVD player, placing _Serenity_ back in its case and then placing it carefully back on the shelf along with the rest of his massive DVD collection, right between _Scott Pilgrim vs. the World_ and _Seven Samurai_. Britta and Troy were asleep on the floor, leaning up against the couch. Pierce was sprawled in a beanbag chair in the corner, snoring heavily, a disgusting trickle of drool running down his cheek. Shirley was in the recliner next to the far end of the couch from Jeff, her head leaning forward and tucked into her chest. He was about to pass the feeling off as nothing more than the ever increasing paranoia he had been experiencing ever since Britta had discovered him and Annie when he saw the slight twitch in Shirley's eye. She wasn't asleep after all. Instead, she was watching Jeff out of the corner of her eye. Correction – watching Jeff _and Annie_ out of the corner of her eye.

_Well so what? It's not like we're doing anything wrong. I mean, yeah she's kinda snuggling into me, but that's just the way she fell asleep, and I was just too nice to wake her…And yeah, my arm is around her shoulder, but only 'cause it's more comfortable there than stretched across the back of the couch. It's perfectly innocent. And my hand is just lightly stroking her hair because…why is my hand lightly stroking her hair? When did it even start doing that? Okay, that may be what Shirley's looking at…it could be construed as slightly suspicious…so why haven't I stopped? I should stop now._

Jeff took hold of Annie's shoulder and shook her gently, but still a little rougher than he would have if he wasn't aware of Shirley's gaze. "Annie, wake up. Movie's over." She grumbled, but finally made it to her feet, eyes still half closed as she tried to rub the sleep out of them.

Eventually, everyone was awake and slowly pulling on their coats in preparation of the cold December air. Jeff and Annie were almost out the door when Shirley stopped them.

"Annie, if you want I can give a ride home." Annie was confused by the sudden offer, unaware of what Jeff had seen earlier. She had arrived with Jeff, who was still picking her up from her apartment above Dildopolis as far as the rest of the group not in on the secret knew, so Shirley was aware that she had a ride home. In fact, Shirley hadn't offered her a ride since when her car first broke down, seemingly content to let the responsibility of having to always drive Annie around fall to Jeff.

"It's okay, Shirley, I don't mind giving Annie a ride home." Jeff tried to say it casually, like it was nothing more than a chore he had grown used to having to do, but he couldn't help being concerned by the sudden offer, wondering it had any connection to what she saw on the couch.

"Jeff, that's nice, but it's not very fair to you. You've been picking Annie up every day before school and dropping her off afterwards, and I know you haven't complained because she's your friend, but it shouldn't have all been dumped on you. One of us should have spoken up and pitched in before now. It may be too late for me to do my fair share, but the least I could do is give her a ride home tonight."

Annie tried to keep the panic off her face, but she was sure it was a losing fight. What could she do? She considered having Shirley just drop her off at the front door of her old building, but she didn't have the key for the main entrance anymore, it was doubtful that someone would be going in or out at three in the morning to let her in, and she couldn't just stand outside and hope that Shirley drove off without watching her go inside. But what other options did she have? She couldn't have Shirley bring her to Jeff's apartment (_her and Jeff's_, she still had to remind herself). Even if Shirley didn't know that Jeff lived in the building, she'd still find it suspicious that Annie had moved without even mentioning it to her friends. She considered refusing the ride, but without a reason to it would just lead to questions that she didn't want to answer yet.

Jeff could see Annie's mind whirling, trying to think of a way out. His was too, but he was drawing a blank. He couldn't insist on giving Annie a ride. It was unusual enough for him to already be going so far out of his way to help someone, even if it was Annie. But with the way Shirley had been looking at them, and now offering Annie a ride when she never had before…it could just be a coincidence…but Jeff didn't think so. He felt helpless, stunned that after so long keeping their relationship a secret the truth would be revealed so easily, but he couldn't see any way to prevent it. That's when an unlikely savior spoke.

"I can give Annie a ride home, Shirley. I left a jacket over there that I have to pick up anyway." Jeff and Annie blinked a few times, trying to make sure their eyes (and ears, although the blinking probably wouldn't help with that) weren't deceiving them. Britta had just saved them.

Jeff tried not to stare, but it was difficult. Britta helping them keep their secret was the last thing he had expected. After she discovered their relationship he and Annie had spent a week fearing the inevitable of her telling the study group. When the first week passed without any death threats from Shirley towards Jeff, the heavy dread they felt hanging over their heads had faded to more of a nagging anxiousness and paranoia. They still held their breath, but the weeks continued to pass, and still nothing happened. Britta remained silent about what she had seen.

They couldn't figure out why, and she wasn't volunteering any answers. She refused to speak with either of them unless another member of the group was around, and even then just enough to avoid arousing suspicion. It didn't make sense for her to suddenly step in and help them.

Annie couldn't figure out why Britta would assist them after the month long silent treatment either, but she hoped it might mean that Britta was at least starting to forgive their deceit and accept the idea of her and Jeff dating. The fact that she had yet to reveal the relationship to the rest of the group seemed like a positive sign, but it was killing Annie that Britta still wasn't talking to them. She didn't know if it was jealousy or just the fact that two of her closest friends had been lying to her for months. _Not that it wouldn't be perfectly reasonable for it to be both_, Annie was forced to admit to herself. So why was she now coming to their aid?

Whatever her motivations, Britta's offer seemed to be enough to placate Shirley and she headed towards the apartment door. "I don't know why on earth I agreed to this, Abed. I love movie nights with all of us together, but I don't how you talked me into watching DVDs for 15 hours straight."

Abed just shrugged; if he knew what had almost happened to Jeff and Annie he gave no indication. "I suggested that it might be nice for you to have a night away from the kids every once in awhile." Shirley paused at the doorway.

"We should do this again. Soon. Maybe make it a weekly thing." With that, she was out the door and down the hall heading towards her minivan, eager to get home to her bed. Annie and Britta left a couple minutes later, and Jeff followed, keeping a few steps behind as he left and pausing when he got to the lobby door, both to pull the collar of his coat tight against the gusting wind, and to scan the parking lot to ensure that Shirley's van was gone. It was.

Satisfied, he stepped out and quickly caught up with Annie, wrapping an arm around her waist. He knew he should still be cautious, but with Shirley gone there was only Troy and Pierce to worry about, and he wasn't particularly concerned about either of them catching on anytime soon. In fact, he was pretty sure he could get away with anything short of actually making out with Annie right in front of Troy before his friend would realize something was going on between them, and Pierce wouldn't even catch on then. But even if his two friends were more observant, they weren't there to observe anyway. Troy was up in his and Abed's apartment, and Pierce was…Jeff wasn't sure where Pierce had gone. His eyes traveled the parking lot again, this time looking for Pierce's car, but there was no sign of it. He hadn't seen him go, but it was safe to assume he had left while Jeff was in the middle of freaking out over Shirley offering Annie a ride home.

The three of them walked in silence towards their cars. Jeff was burning with questions, but held back, sensing that Britta wanted to speak first. Under normal circumstances that wouldn't have stopped him, but he figured he owed Britta for covering for them tonight. And probably several other things. Annie was having similar thoughts to him, and she too remained silent, waiting for Britta. When they reached Britta's car they waited until she turned back towards them. Finally she spoke.

"Look, I'm still not sure I'm okay with…this," she gestured towards Jeff and Annie, and it was all Jeff could do to keep from rolling his eyes, "but that doesn't change the fact that I reacted…poorly." Annie gave a snort at that, and Britta narrowed her eyes at her briefly before continuing. "Not that my reaction was entirely unjustified, given that two people I consider my friends had been lying to me for months."

"Not unjustified? You slapped him!" Annie scowled at her, and Jeff was briefly concerned that he may have to step between the two of them before something bad happened, but Britta just held up her hands in surrender.

"I know, and it was really fucking stupid of me, and you had every right to slap me back, Annie. I deserved it. I'm just saying none of us handled this…situation as well as we could have. But what I wanted to say is, even though I'm still not convinced that this is a good idea…I don't want to be the one that ruins it. I'm not gonna tell the group about you two. It's not my place and it wouldn't be right. But I do think you guys should. They're your friends, and you shouldn't be hiding this from them. I get that you're probably worried about how they'll react, but I think I'm proof that it's much worse to accidentally stumble upon it than be told up front."

"Oh, don't even try to pretend that I wouldn't have been slapped no matter how you found out about me and Annie." Jeff said, grinning to let her know that he was kidding.

"Well, yeah, obviously. But if the news had been broken more gently I could have planned it out and waited until it was just the two of us, that way I wouldn't have to worry about Annie hitting me back." Britta was grinning too, and Jeff felt an immense weight lift off his shoulders. He was loathe to admit it, but while he no longer felt the attraction for Britta that had driven him to accidentally form the study group in the first place, he was glad that she had instead become a friend; someone that he could trust with nearly anything; something he had never really had in his life before he came to Greendale, although he hadn't realized it at the time. It felt good to know that after a month with only icy silence between them, everything was (mostly) okay again. With everything settled between her and Jeff, Britta turned her attention back to Annie.

"If he hurts you, I will say I told you so."

"Yeah, I know." Annie pulled her into a hug, which Britta reluctantly returned. She looked at Jeff over Annie's shoulder.

"And if you hurt her, Shirley will hold you down while I castrate you."

Jeff laughed, fairly certain she was kidding. He hoped so anyway. "Your confidence in me is overwhelming, as always."

Britta separated from Annie. "Alright, enough with the emotional junk. I gotta get home and get some sleep; I have an early flight in the morning."

"Going somewhere for the holidays?" Annie asked.

"Yeah, a bunch of friends are meeting up in New York for a week, so I figured it's as good a way as any to blow the last of my savings account. What about you two? Any plans?"

"Uh, I guess we haven't really talked about it. I mean, we decorated the apartment –"

"She decorated the apartment. With an absolutely insane amount of decorations, a Christmas tree _and_ a Menorah. The entire place looks like a department store window display."

" – but we hadn't really discussed if we would do anything special."

"Which really should have been discussed before now." Jeff said. "Cause I can handle Christmas, but Hanukah? My entire understanding of Jewish culture comes from Mel Brooks' movies, Lewis Black stand-up, and South Park. I'm not supposed to buy you a dreidel, am I?" Annie slapped his arm playfully, and Britta decided to ignore the teasing between the couple before she started feeling queasy.

"What about visiting your families? Have you done the whole 'meet the parents' thing yet?"

Jeff scoffed. "Yeah right. My mother thinks I'm still a lawyer. I'll make the obligatory Christmas Day phone call, but if she tries to drag it out longer than 15 minutes, I'm gonna have to pretend my apartment's on fire…again."

"What about you, Annie? What about your parents?" Annie gave a scoff of her own that rivaled Jeff's in the amount of scorn it conveyed, but also carried an underlying tinge of sorrow.

"My parents still aren't really speaking to me since they cut me off. I've tried once or twice, but it…hasn't gone well."

"Well, what do you usually do on Christmas or Hanukah? Jeff, I know you don't really believe, but you must have done something."

"Well, when I was still a lawyer, I used to go to the office Christmas party and get drunk."

"Okay, what about after you got fired and came to Greendale? What did you do then?"

"Stayed home and got drunk." Britta sighed.

"Annie what about you?"

"Well, after my parents got divorced they both kind of gave up on the traditions. I kept going to Synagogue for the first couple of years, but eventually I just started locking myself in my bedroom and watching Christmas movies all day."

"Why?"

"Well, before they got divorced, that's how my family used to spend Christmas, and it kinda became a way to remind myself of the better times, when we were still a family." Jeff could definitely sympathize. He knew how miserable divorce was for a child.

"Well, now you can do that without having to lock yourself in your bedroom, and you don't have to be alone. Just promise that you'll try not to hit me if I sneer and/or belittle any heartfelt displays of emotion. You know I don't deal well with sappy movies, and I'd imagine after a full day of _A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34__th__ Street, _and _It's a Wonderful Life_, I'm not gonna have the restraint to keep any sarcastic comments to myself."

Annie looked up at him, a tiny smirk appearing. "Actually, I never really liked those movies either, especially after the divorce. Those kind of movies were the last things I needed when I was already an emotional wreck. Mostly I stuck to the funnier stuff I enjoyed watching when I was a kid. You know, _The Muppet Christmas Carol, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Christmas Vacation, Home Alone_… stuff like that."

"Okay, I guess that's a lot more tolerable than what I was expecting. Any others?"

"One, actually, but people always look at me funny when I say I watch it every Christmas, even though it is a Christmas movie. Technically."

"If it's a Christmas movie, how weird can it be? What is it?"

"_Gremlins_." Annie said nervously, as if she expected Jeff to burst out laughing at her. Instead, he just smiled.

"Hey, it takes place on Christmas, right? I'd say that totally counts as a Christmas movie. And even if it didn't, who needs a reason to watch _Gremlins_ anyway? It's a classic." Annie beamed at him, and Jeff felt the same heat rush through his body that he always did whenever he did anything that made her smile. It was the same feeling he got the first time she had smiled at him, and he was amazed that the feeling was as strong now as it was two-and-a-half years ago when they had first met. If anything, now that they were together the feeling was even more intense. _But still, I might as well use this opportunity when she's in a good mood to get a little something for myself._

"You know, if we're counting movies that take place on Christmas, I have another one that we should really add to the list." Annie just looked at him and gave an exaggerated sigh.

"Yes, we can watch _Die Hard_." Jeff didn't even say anything. Instead, he just grinned and then leaned down and gave her a small kiss.

"Have I mentioned how amazing you are?" Annie grinned up at him.

"Once or twice. But not nearly enough."

"Well, I'll have to fix that." Jeff was pulling her into another kiss when they were interrupted by a series of gagging sounds. Jeff turned towards Britta, venom in his eyes. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously. I don't need to be seeing you two acting all cutesy with each other. It's disturbing, and it's almost enough to make me rethink the whole 'need to tell the group' thing, 'cause once your relationship goes public the two of you are gonna be hanging all over each other all the time. Annie I can see this from, but you, Jeff? When did you get so cheesy?"

"Hey, I am _not_ cheesy!" Indignant, he looked towards Annie to back him up. "Right?" He couldn't help but notice that Annie seemed to be refusing to make eye contact with him, instead staring intently at her shoes. "Oh, come on! I am not cheesy!"

"…You're a little cheesy." Annie finally admitted, and Jeff groaned. Annie grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss, quickly silencing him. When she finally broke the kiss, she kept her face close to his, making sure he was paying attention to her. "But I like cheesy. You make it work."

_She makes a surprisingly strong argument_, Jeff was forced to admit to himself, but he couldn't completely let Britta's comment go, especially when she made another round of gagging sounds. "But cheesy means I'm the annoying guy that everyone hates every time he's in public with his girlfriend. I can't be that guy! I'm the guy who used to mock and ridicule that guy. I hate that guy!"

Surprisingly, it was Britta that stepped in to calm Jeff, realizing her teasing had got to him a little more than she intended. "Look, so you're a little bit cheesy when it comes to romance. It's not a big deal. I know this is hard for you to accept, but you don't have to be a cynical douchebag about everything in life. It's okay to have one aspect that isn't full of negativity. So you can be a romantic to Annie, and to the rest of the world you can be the smug, condescending tool we've come to know and somewhat tolerate." Jeff considered Britta's words for a moment, then took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"Thanks, Britta. And I sincerely mean that, for everything. I know it can't have been easy keeping this from the group, and…we appreciate it. Thank you." Britta shrugged, unsure of how to react to an honest and open Jeff.

"Yeah, well…like I said, it should be you that tells them. And soon."

"I know. I just…have no idea how." All three stood in silence for a few moments, before Annie spoke up.

"Actually, I've been thinking about it, and I sort of have an idea. When are you back from New York?" Britta paused to think.

"The 29th."

"Good, I'll talk to you sometime after Christmas and give you the details once everything is figured out." After that, the conversation quickly wrapped up, and Britta said goodbye to her two friends. Jeff and Annie climbed into his car, finally ready to head home. As he started the Lexus, Jeff looked over at Annie.

"So, are you going to share what this idea of yours is with me?"

"Well, I was thinking…"

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><p><strong>Author's Note: Good news, everyone – I'm not dead after all! *insert crickets chirping here*…Well, I thought it was good news anyway. But seriously, I'm sorry it's been so long since the last update. I know how much it sucks to really get into a story on this site only to find out there's no ending to it, and judging by the reviews people have left, as well as those who added this story to their favorites or story alert lists, there are people who have gotten into it, which is amazing to me (seriously, all you people are awesome). Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, there's still no ending – while I had originally envisioned this as the final chapter, I finally realized I couldn't do the group scene without first clearing the air between Britta and JeffAnnie. Too bad it only took me a half dozen rewrites before I realized that, and another half dozen rewrites to finally get a story I was sort of happy with. That, combined with writers block and general laziness on my part is what led to my long absence. The next chapter should be up sooner, but I can't say when. Rest assured though, it will be posted at some point. Like I said, I hate dead fics, so that won't be happening here.**

**As always, all reviews are appreciated.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Group Finds Out

**Disclaimer:** No, I don't own Community. I don't even own the computer that this story was written on.

**Author's Note: **I hope anyone who has been waiting to read the final installment of this story is as firm a believer in the philosophy of "Better late than never" as I am. When I first started writing this, I never envisioned it taking so long to complete. It really did spiral out of control from just a simple idea I had for a one shot story. I don't know if I'll ever tackle a multi-chapter story again, but if I do I'll be sure to have the whole thing planned out better so that the few people who seem to enjoy my work (I'm still honestly shocked that there's any) don't have to wait months just to get a new chapter.

As I mentioned back before the first chapter, I do have plans for a prequel that will establish how they started dating. However, I do have a few other one shot ideas that I've come up with in the mean time, so I'm not sure which will be written next. But as always, I will get around to it at some point.

All comments and criticisms are welcome. I only ask that if you think it sucks, tell me why.

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><p>"Aren't we a sorry bunch? Seriously, none of us could get a date for New Year's?" Britta teased the rest of the group as she stepped off the elevator and saw Shirley, Pierce, Troy, and Abed standing in the hallway outside Jeff's (<em>and Annie's<em>, she had to remind herself) apartment. Of course, the rest of them didn't know that yet. With the exception of Abed, everyone else thought it was only Jeff's place, which made the fact that he was hosting a New Year's Eve party for the study group there unusual, to say the least. He had always avoided having any group events at his apartment in the past. The others were still wondering what brought on the unexpected change of heart, not knowing it was Annie who had decided that a New Year's Eve party in their apartment was the perfect time and place to come clean to the group about their hidden relationship, and had emailed the invitations from Jeff's account. Britta had arrived early in order to get Abed alone and ask him how exactly they should play it when Jeff and Annie made the big reveal, but apparently the mystery of Jeff's apartment was enough for the rest of the group to get there even earlier than her.

"Speak for yourself. Andre's coming later. There was a problem with the babysitter, so he's watching the kids until the replacement can get there in a couple hours. He said there was no point in both of us missing the start of the party."

"And I would have had a date with me," Pierce said, "but the invitation was very specific about his apartment having a strict "No escorts" policy, so I had to cancel." Britta decided to ignore Pierce, like always, and instead turned towards Troy and Abed.

"Abed, what about you? Aren't you seeing that girl from your film class?"

"We actually broke up a little while ago. It wasn't really working out between us. We were completely incompatible."

"Dude, I keep telling you, not everyone is as big a fan of the 9th Inspector as you are." Troy said, shaking his head at his friend.

"No, it wasn't that…she'd never even heard of Inspector Spacetime."

"Oh…what a freak. You are way too good for her, man." The two did their signature handshake.

"Well, what about you Troy?" Shirley asked. He seemed reluctant to speak, and stared down at his shoes for a few moments, before finally answering while continuing to avoid eye contact.

"Uh…there is this girl in one of my classes that I'm really into, but I'm not really sure where we're at. She may just want to be friends." Britta nodded.

"Yeah, I'm in pretty much the exact same boat."

"Ha! I _knew_ you were a lesbian!" Britta sighed in frustration.

"Pierce, I meant with a guy in my class!" He snorted.

"Yeah right." Shirley didn't like the look Britta was giving Pierce and decided it would be best to change the subject.

"What about Jeff and Annie?"

"What _about_ Jeff and Annie?" Britta hoped that didn't sound as defensive out loud as it did in her head. She was about one second away from a full blown panic attack when Shirley spoke again.

"Does anyone know if either of them are bringing anyone tonight?" Britta fought back a smirk and glanced over at Abed. As usual, his expression gave nothing away, but she's pretty sure she can see a tiny glimmer in his eye, and knows he's appreciative of the situation. Britta's chose her words carefully. She felt guilty enough not sharing what she had learned with the rest of the group, but she could handle a lie of omission; she refused to resort to outright lying.

"I'm pretty sure no one from outside the group will be here."

"Where is Annie, anyway? It's not like her to be the last to show up, and the invitation did ask for all of us to arrive together." Britta felt the panic creeping back, and tried to think of an excuse that wouldn't arouse suspicion, but her brain was refusing to cooperate. It seemed more intent on expressing its disbelief at how hard she was trying to hide Jeff and Annie's relationship until they got the chance to break the news themselves. Fortunately Abed was able to jump in while her brain was frozen.

"She sent me a text earlier. Jeff asked for her help in setting up for the party, so she should already be here." Britta didn't know if Annie had given him that excuse earlier or if he had just come up with it right now, but she wouldn't be surprised either way. Jeff and Annie wouldn't have been able to keep them a secret for so long if they weren't careful to cover all their bases. And for whatever reason, Abed had taken it upon himself to cover for them on the rare occasions that they did slip up. Now that Britta knew what was going on, she was kind of mad at herself for never noticing it before because the signs, however subtle, were definitely there. But apparently Abed was a master of distraction and misdirection when the occasion called for it, and whenever Jeff and Annie acted in a way that even hinted they something more than friends, Abed would run interference, pulling the group's attention towards himself with pop culture references or a keen insight into the group dynamics currently in play. She had to grudgingly admit that it was a little bit brilliant, and more than a little bit scary that he could keep the group in the dark so easily, but at the moment she was just grateful that everyone was no longer questioning where Annie was. She figured it was time to move it along and get this whole thing over with.

"Well, if Annie's already here, then no point waiting any longer. Someone knock on the door." Shirley was the closest one to the door, but she didn't knock, instead turning towards Britta.

"Wait, its only 6:40. The invitation told us to arrive at 7:00. It's not polite to arrive before the time on the invitation."

"Shirley, I'm not standing in the hallway for another 20 minutes. If you were so worried about being punctual, why did you show up so early anyway?" Shirley huffed indignantly.

"For your information, I wanted to give myself extra time in case I had trouble finding the place. Unlike the rest of you, I've never here before."

"Hey, I've only been over here a couple of times; once to work on a school project and once when…" Britta trailed off, realizing what a bad idea it would be to end that sentence with _…I helped Annie move in_. Luckily Pierce was quick to jump in and finish for her in his usual crude style.

"…you and Jeff were doing it?"

"Ugh, shut up, Pierce! And for your information, no, we never "did it" in his apartment. We never hung out in his apartment at all." The sudden bitterness in her voice surprised her. She had never really considered that before; the fact that she and Jeff had slept together for nearly a year and not once had he invited her to his place, but asked Annie to move in after dating for only a few months. It wasn't jealousy. Not really, anyway. She had no desire for a relationship with Jeff, then or now, and even if she had it never could have worked between them. But the fact that he so obviously connected with Annie better than he ever had with her…it stung a little, she wasn't going to lie. She wondered if that might have subconsciously been part of the reason she freaked when she found out Jeff and Annie were moving in together.

"Abed and I used to be over here every couple of weeks to watch movies and play video games, but it just kind of stopped about halfway through the summer. He kept saying he was busy, but he wouldn't say with what." The group turned to look at Britta, who pulled herself out of her self-analytical tail spin (and seriously, she became a psychology major to analyze other people, not herself) to stare back defensively.

"What?"

"Well, the last time Jeff was hiding something it was the fact that he and you were sleeping together."

"Yeah, that's definitely not it this time, Shirley."

"Well, maybe he's seeing someone else then. Remember, he tried to hide it when he was dating Professor Slater, too. Oh! Maybe it's that cute brunette from Biology!"

_Yes, but not the one you're thinking of_. Britta nearly laughed out loud at that. Now would be a very good time to change the subject before there was any more speculation about whether Jeff had a secret girlfriend and who she could be. As much as she thought Jeff and Annie might deserve it for keeping it a secret for so long, it wouldn't be fair to have the whole thing blow up in their faces right when they were finally about to tell the group themselves. "Shirley, just knock already. I'm not waiting another 15 minutes." When it looked like she was going to protest again Britta leaned past her and loudly knocked on the door herself, ignoring Shirley's glare.

Britta was just about to knock again when the door finally swung open. Annie stood there, her face slightly flushed look as she ran a hand over her hair, trying to smooth it back into place. Behind her, Jeff was slightly more composed, but he seemed to be short of breath and his hair looked a little more mussed than its usual carefully styled bedhead look.

"Oh, you guys are here early. We were just…finishing getting ready. For the party. That Jeff asked me to help him set up for. Come in!" Abed just shook his head sadly, while Britta barely suppressed a groan of disgust at what she had undoubtedly interrupted. The rest of the group seemed oblivious to anything wrong though, and they all filed into the apartment. Britta was seriously starting to wonder exactly what it would take for the rest of the group to catch on, but reminded herself that she'd been equally clueless until she had literally walked in on it. She was only seeing it now because she knew what to look for.

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><p>Shirley wasn't sure what she had expected Jeff's apartment to look like, but it certainly wasn't this. She had pictured his place as having a kind of modern décor, empty and cold, with stylish but uncomfortable furniture and lacking in any personal touches like photographs. Instead, she found the spacious apartment surprisingly warm and cozy. The furniture was a little worn down, but very comfortable looking, and the entire place had a lived-in feeling that made the whole place feel oddly inviting. She was most surprised by all the photos hanging on the walls, though. She knew that he wasn't close to any of his family, so it wasn't a shock to see that he didn't have any pictures of them hanging up. What he did have though, were pictures of the study group. <em>Oh, that's nice<em>, she thought, looking at a photo of the entire group together. The next photo was one of just Jeff and Annie, as was the one after that. In fact, almost all of the ones that didn't feature the entire group were of just Jeff and Annie. And she couldn't be sure but some of them looked like they hadn't been taken at Greendale. She was just about to ask Jeff about them when Troy came back into the room.

"Jeff, you realize that is an ungodly amount of hair and skin products in your bathroom, right? I mean, I know we joke about that sometimes, but damn, there's enough stuff in there for like, three people. And some of them are surprisingly girly." Jeff sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could already feel a stress headache coming on. _Better get this over with_.

"Yeah, about that…before the rest of you start poking around and invading my privacy any more than you already have, there's something I should tell you. I know that I said that we were having this party at my apartment. Well, that's not…_entirely_ true." He paused, unable to force the words out of his mouth to explain what was going on. Annie slid over to stand next to him. They didn't have to say a word to each other; he just gently laced his fingers with hers and held her hand at his side as she spoke.

"It's actually our place." Jeff felt like all of the oxygen had left the room as he looked at the faces surrounding him. Troy looked like he was going to faint…or cry…maybe both. Britta was trying to fake a look of surprise, but she wasn't exactly known for her acting ability, and it was coming off more as indigestion. Abed, of course, looked the same as always. So did Pierce for that matter, but Pierce's default setting seemed to be 'vaguely confused', so Jeff couldn't decide if he was in shock or just hadn't heard him. But Shirley was the one he was most focused on. Her brow was furrowed, and her eyes were darting back and forth between Jeff's face, Annie's face, and their hands, which were still entwined. The silence dragged on; Jeff realized that it was only a few seconds in reality but it felt like eternity.

"Say what now?" Shirley's face had settled into some weird mixture of confusion and something unrecognizable that was not particularly reassuring. At all. Still, she wasn't advancing on him with a Bible or blunt object in hand, so Jeff decided to delay their backup plan of locking himself in the bedroom while Annie tried to talk Shirley into not killing him. For now, anyway.

"Jeff and I are living together. And we have been for over a month." Troy's eyes lit up.

"Oh, that explains the second toothbrush in there! I thought that was kind of strange, even for Jeff."

"Annie, I'm so glad that you're not living over Dildopolis anymore. That neighborhood was so unsafe and I always worried about you…but this isn't a roommate situation is it? 'Cause I'm pretty sure this ain't a two bedroom apartment."

"No, Shirley, it's not a two bedroom apartment, and no, it's not a roommate situation. Jeff and I have actually been seeing each other – romantically – for a while now." Shirley let out a small "oh" at Annie's frank admittance, but she didn't seem as surprised as Jeff expected, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"I thought there was something weird going on between the two of you! You were acting all buddy-buddy at the beginning of the summer, then all of a sudden you were completely ignoring each other. I just didn't expect…I thought _maybe_ you two had kissed and were going through that whole awkward "Pretend it never happened and avoid each other at all costs" stage…again." She looked around the shared apartment. "But I never expected this." Shirley's voice was still eerily calm. Jeff had expected shouting, and threats of violence, and maybe even actual violence if things didn't go well. He was beginning to think he would have preferred it that way to whatever this was. At least he'd been prepared for angry Shirley. He had no idea how to respond now. He wasn't sure if she was in shock, if she was okay with it, or if she had just decided there were too many witnesses right now and was planning something for later, but it made him nervous.

"Actually, we did. But fortunately we – well, she – handled it much better than we usually do." Annie laughed and rolled her eyes and Jeff pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Annie looked up at him and grinned before turning back to Shirley.

"So we talked about what we both wanted, and I convinced Jeff to ask me out on a date."

"So…how long has this been going on?" For the first time, Jeff could hear the emotion in Shirley's voice. But it wasn't anger; it was disappointment. Well, that had been expected. He knew that there was no way that Shirley was going to approve of their relationship. Not without some serious effort by Annie anyway. Still, if Annie could convince him that the two of them dating was a good idea, he knew she could convince anyone.

"Six months next week." Jeff said. The disappointment was now showing clearly on Shirley's face, and Annie quickly jumped in to try and explain.

"We should have said something before now, but at first we wanted to make sure that this was going to work before we told anyone, and then it was just going so well that we kept putting it off because we weren't sure how everyone would react, and then we were just waiting for the right time to tell you, but things kept coming up and it never seemed like a good time." She looked at Shirley with her Disney eyes brimming with tears, but Shirley didn't say anything. Instead, she went and sat down on the couch, away from Annie. The room fell quiet once again. This time, it was Pierce who broke the silence.

"Well, I wish you would have told us sooner, but I can certainly understand why you would choose to wait. Oh, and before I forget – Jeff, Annie, these are for you. A housewarming gift." For the first time, Jeff noticed that Pierce had not come empty handed. He held a gift bag in his hand, which he now reached into. To Jeff he handed a bottle of what looked like very expensive scotch with a card attached to it; Annie's gift was small and rectangular, covered in wrapping paper. Jeff scoffed.

"Come on, Pierce, there's no way you could have known about…holy crap the card actually says 'Happy Housewarming, Jeff and Annie!'" He handed the card over to Annie, who gasped when she read it, then let out a big 'Awww'. Jeff turned back towards Pierce. "Okay, I'm impressed. How the hell did you know?"

"Jeff, please. I've been married seven times. I may never have been very good at keeping a relationship together, but that doesn't mean I can't see two people falling in love practically right in front of my eyes."

"Okay, I can sort of buy that; but that doesn't explain how you knew about us living together. You didn't hire that private detective again and have him follow us around, did you?"

"Like that was even necessary. You guys weren't as careful as you thought, especially when you were leaving campus. Did you really think no one would notice that you were always coming to and from here, instead of heading the other way towards Annie's apartment? Once or twice I could see, but every day, to and from Greendale? If she wasn't living with you, she was spending almost all of her time here. So I checked Annie's old apartment and found out she had moved."

"And you didn't say anything?"

"I thought about it, but relationships can be hard even without added outside pressure. As long as you didn't hide it forever, I wasn't going to force it."

"Well, thank you. And thanks for this." Jeff held up the bottle Pierce had given him. "25-year-old scotch? This is the good stuff." Pierce let out a small chuckle.

"Please. That makes "the good stuff" taste like stale hobo urine in comparison. This is something you drink only on the most special of occasions, understood? I'm talking births, funerals…that sort of thing, you know? I expect to share a drink with both of you at your wedding."

Jeff was thankful he hadn't poured himself a drink, 'cause he was pretty sure it would have been sprayed all over the living room, and that would have been a horrible waste of really good scotch. He briefly wondered whether Abed would applaud the use of a spit-take to make the situation more sitcom-like, or if he would deride it as an overused cliché. Then he realized he kind of had more important things to focus on right now.

"Whoa, Pierce, we've only lived together for a month! Annie and I haven't talked about anything like that yet!" Annie had already been turning red from Pierce's comment. She blushed even more and practically stared a hole straight through the floor when Jeff spoke, but couldn't hide the hint of a smile on her face from him. It made her look both adorable and sexy as hell (then again, Jeff thought she always looked adorable and sexy as hell), but he couldn't figure out what he said that made her react like that. He glanced around the room, but saw no reaction from any of his friends, although he's certain Abed knew, whatever it was. He ran through what he said in his head again. _Annie and I haven't talked about anything like that…__**yet**_.

_Yet. Where the fuck did that come from?_ But even as he thought it, Jeff knew exactly where that word had come from. He and Annie may not have talked about it, but they had been dating for almost six months, living together for over a month, and Jeff didn't see that ending anytime soon. More important, he didn't want it to end anytime soon. Or at all. In fact, he really couldn't see himself not spending the rest of his life with her; he didn't even care that it made him feel like an overemotional sap for admitting that to himself. And more importantly, he knew Annie felt the same way.

All of this had probably been building in his subconscious for weeks now, but the sudden realization as it forced its way to the front of his mind left him feeling more than a little thunderstruck. He thought of the day Annie had moved in, when Abed had begun spinning his soap opera theories and had mentioned the possibility of Britta or Annie being pregnant. The mere thought of Britta being pregnant had been one of the most terrifying things he'd ever experienced in his life. Not just that it was Britta, although that certainly didn't help. He'd never wanted to settle down and have children; he was worried that there was too much of his father inside of him, that he would simply prove incapable of the task at hand.

But that terror, that fear that made his throat close up and his stomach twist itself into a knot – it wasn't present when Abed had mentioned Annie being pregnant. At the time he had had more pressing matters to focus on, and the strange feeling had been quickly forgotten in the ensuing chaos. That same feeling had returned, larger than ever, while he had been at the jewelers buying Annie the silver butterfly necklace she was currently wearing for her Christmas/Hanukah present (he refused to call it Chrismukkah, no matter how many times she tried to force him to watch The O.C.), when his eyes had glanced over a display of engagement rings. He refused to acknowledge exactly what those feelings meant, but his subconscious had known. Happiness. But not the regular, everyday kind of happiness. This was the pure, uncut stuff. The kind you would do anything for, as long as it meant you got to experience it every day for the rest of your life. The kind you got addicted to.

"Annie, why don't you open your gift now?" Annie eagerly tore into the package Pierce had given her. She gasped once she had the wrapping paper off.

"Pierce, they're beautiful." Annie beamed at him. The package contained a set of ornate silver picture frames, obviously antique. Pierce smiled softly.

"They belonged to my mother. I figured Jeff wasn't much for photos, and I knew you would have a bunch that you wanted to hang up, so I thought these might look a little nicer than the frames you had." Annie thanked Pierce with a hug, then turned towards Shirley, who was still sitting on the couch.

"Shirley, you still haven't really said what you think. Will you please at least talk about it? We get that your upset, but we really didn't know how to let everyone know without turning it into some big thing, so we thought it would be better to wait a little while, and we totally didn't mean to hide it for so long and…just please don't be mad at us!"

"I'm not mad!" Shirley snapped as she stood up from the couch and turned towards Jeff and Annie.

"…Are you sure? 'Cause you sound kinda mad." Jeff asked, then grunted as Annie dug an elbow into his side.

"Well, maybe a little. But mostly I'm disappointed…in the fact that you felt like you had to hide this from us, and I'm guessing me in particular. Both of you are my friends, and I want the two of you to be happy."

"And we are, but Shirley, you're really okay with this?"

"If I said no, would it change anything?"

"No." Annie and Jeff said together.

"Good. I won't lie and say that I don't have reservations about the age difference, but Annie, you're a grown woman. You can make your own decisions, and I trust your judgment. And as for the living together in sin aspect…" she frowned. "I don't like it, but, well, you are both technically Hellbound already, anyway. If this means I just have to work a little bit harder to get both of you into Heaven, then so be it." She grinned in excitement. "Besides, with the two of you together I'm pretty sure I only have to get one of you on the right path, and the other should follow easily enough. It'll be like a two-for-one!" Jeff just shook his head at her reasoning, while Annie put a hand over her mouth to hide a giggle. Shirley got serious again and stared Jeff down with her Angry Mom Face.

"And Jeff, I'm assuming you're serious about this since you've moved in together, but if you're playing with her, if you hurt her in any way, I want you to know that I will break both of your legs, drive you out to the middle of the desert, and leave you there." Jeff swallowed nervously.

"Well, that's…terrifying. How very Christian of you. But I don't think you have anything to worry about, Shirley. Since Pierce already knew about us, I'm assuming he already has someone on retainer to kill me if I ever hurt Annie."

"Jeff, I would never have you killed. Not when I could use all my time and money, of which I have a considerable amount, to absolutely break you in ways you can't even begin to imagine if you hurt her. Seriously, I will shatter your entire world to the point that when I'm through with you, you'll drive a sledgehammer over to Shirley's home yourself."

"Have our friends always been this creepy and I just never noticed before?" Annie rubbed his back in sympathy.

"Well, look on the bright side. All you have to do is keep me happy and you won't have anything to worry about."

"Lucky me, seeing as I was already planning on doing that anyway." He leaned down and kissed her lightly, just pressing his lips softly against hers.

"Ooh, that's nice! Uh…Britta, you've been awfully quiet about this whole thing. I expected you to have more of a reaction to all of this." Britta, who had been trying not to gag at the frankly disgusting levels of cuteness from the couple, looked at Shirley like a deer frozen in the headlights.

"Oh…I guess I'm still a little stunned from the whole thing, ya know? I'm not really sure how I feel. I think I might be in shock."

"She was furious…when she found out a month ago." Britta glared at Annie. Jeff she could have expected that from, but Annie?

"You haven't completely forgiven me for the "old enough to be your father" comment, have you?" Annie didn't say anything, just smirked, but the meaning was unmistakable. _Now we're even._ Jeff couldn't believe that Annie would throw Britta under the bus like that. It was…incredibly hot. He couldn't help it; he really liked devious Annie. It was probably a good thing she wasn't like that very often; if she was, he was pretty sure they would never leave their apartment.

"You knew about this for a month and you didn't tell me?"

"Hey, Abed knew way before I ever did!" Britta said defensively. Everyone turned towards Abed, who simply nodded.

"That's true."

"Wait, so was I the only one who had absolutely no clue about any of this?" Troy asked.

"Yes!" Everyone said. Troy's face fell and tears started to form in his eyes.

"Man, I never know what's going on!" Abed placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him while Shirley started scolding Britta for keeping such a juicy piece of gossip to herself for so long, and the party eventually settled into as close to normalcy as any study group event could hope to achieve. And at midnight, when Annie pulled Jeff into a passionate, knee-buckling kiss (with the other members of the group looking on in varying degrees of discomfort), Jeff couldn't help but think that as great as the old year had been, the new one would be even better.


End file.
